


Reaper Redemption

by Demonqueen82



Category: Sons of Anarchy, Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-05-26 22:53:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 70,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6258988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demonqueen82/pseuds/Demonqueen82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You know how love stories always start with girl meets boy, girl falls in love with the boy and they live happily ever after.<br/>Yeah, I never liked those either.<br/>This is not one of those stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sandbox belongs to Kurt Sutter & SM I'm just having fun with their creations

_You know how love stories always start with girl meets boy, girl falls in love with the boy and they live happily ever after._

_Yeah, I never liked those either. This is not one of those stories. The two of us have had an interesting road._

_Maybe I should start at the beginning._

_I moved to Forks, Washington during my sophomore year of school when Renee, my mom and I use that term loosely, remarried. Surprisingly to a nice guy. Knowing my mother, that she wouldn't be happy staying in one place with me while her husband traveled for work, I decided that I needed to go live with my dad._

_It would be good, a chance for us to reconnect. Renee and dad divorced when I was young, around five, so for the last few years I was spending my summers with my dad, being able to be a kid while taking care of my mother the rest of the time. I never let him know how bad it was. I don't think he ever would have forgiven himself for not trying to get me from her._

_I will admit that I was stupid during my first eight or so months there. I got sucked into the world of Edward Cullen._

_Fuckward was my first boyfriend. I let him take over my life, which was beyond stupid. I became one of these girls that I had always despised. I allowed him to control me. The fact that he is a vampire just added to it. I think he and his family saving me from James, a psychotic tracker, made me think that I had fallen for him even harder._

_Fucker was a vampire, a predator, everything about him was to draw you in. I was a lamb being lead to the slaughter, I just didn't see it. Glamouring, its a royal bitch._

_I stayed with him, pretty much ignoring the few friends that I had started to make and my dad, while he and his so-called family took over my life. Well they did until my seventeenth birthday when a simple paper cut actually saved me._

_Jasper, one of his 'brothers' tried to attack me since he was the newest one to the vegetarian life style. Meaning they ate animals instead of humans._

_A few days later, he dumped me. He couldn't even do it in the house, no..he had to take me for a walk into the woods and disappeared after the dumping. Told me I was nothing but a pet to his 'family', that none of them gave a damn about what would happen to me once they left. I am a klutz and terrible with directions, so of course I got lost and had to be found by a local boy from the reservation. Got sick as a dog since it decided to start down poring while I was trying to get back to the house._

_I went through some sort of withdrawal when they left. Almost like an addict going through detox. Luckily I still had a couple friends that refused to let me disappear into myself, Jacob and Angela. My sun and my sanity._ _He brought me back to life while she helped me heal. I wish I had introduced them sooner, it would have made some things so much easier in the long run._

_I even tried dating Jacob, which didn't work really but we were both too stubborn to admit it, until he suddenly ended our relationship and our friendship._

_Pissed, I refused to let him walk away from me and went to his house to confront him...I would be damned if I was going to be dumped over a bloody test message, if he wanted to end our relationship and friendship he was going to have to do it to my face._

_Sprained my wrist slapping him across the face and found out that my ex turns into a wolf._

_I did not get back with him after I found out about the pack, seems there is this thing called imprinting. Which sucks ass in my personal opinion._ _I did get close to the pack but unlike with the Cullens they didn't take over my life. I had a family that I had always wanted and it didn't take over my life._ _I think it helped that my dad was best friends with Jake's dad. So I was able to balance the time I was with them better._

_The pack protected me from the rest of that tracker's coven when they showed up almost a year after the Cullens left. Victoria, his mate, and Laurent._

_Seems Victoria wanted mate for mate but she had her ass handed to her by the newest member of the pack, Leah Clearwater. Laurent tried to claim that he was there to stop Victoria, but his red eyes and trying to take a bite out of me made us not trust him so the pack destroyed him._

_Want to know why I think imprinting sucks ass, Leah had this awesome fiancee until he phased and imprinted on her cousin, who was like her sister. Worst part she had no clue why he ended the relationship or why her cousin moved in with him barely a week later until she phased herself. To say she was pissed is an understatement._

_Jake imprinted on my friend Angela, who took it pretty well after freaking out for a few weeks and hurting herself and Jake in the process. Funny thing was she was trying to fight the pull because she thought I still had feelings for him. I love her for that but Jake is like a little brother once I told her kissing him was like kissing a brother, she stopped fighting._

_Sam, Leah's ex, was the Alpha of the pack so Leah went lone wolf. She has rejoined the pack now that Sam has stepped down as Alpha and Jake took his rightful place._ _Leah and I actually have a good relationship, she is my sister in all but blood._

_I graduated from high school and went to college nearby so that I wouldn't be far from dad. I dated at college but none of them seemed worth letting into my pants and the instant they realized that I wasn't going to be easy, they would split. Even Paul, the man-whore of the pack, tried to get into my pants but it never went beyond a kiss or good make out session. Which was good when he found his imprint, Jake's sister Rachel. Knowing that he had been with most of the girls in the area was bad enough without adding imprinting to the problem._

_I graduated from college and found a job Charming, California. After four nearly five years in Washington, it was time for a change. Everyone but Renee supported my decision to move._ _She made a huge fuss about it and it came out that she didn't want me to move there since her estranged brother-my uncle-Clay Morrow lives there. My grandparents disowned him years before and she agreed with them. Knowing how I feel about family, it pissed me off that she kept him from me._ _Dad looked into him and completely supported my trying to connect with him. Even after letting me know that he had problems with the law and was the president of a bike club...SAMCRO._

_I think the day I got to Charming should be where I start._

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me." she mumbles pulling the truck over to the side of the road. "You make it all the way from Forks to break down now." She gets out of the car, thankful that she was in jeans and not the dress she had thought about wearing, slamming the door to open the hood.

_Hell. Can already hear Jake saying 'I told you so' that the truck wouldn't make it._

She gets back into the truck and reaches into her bag, taking out her phone to call for the nearest garage. She nearly drops the phone when she hears the name Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair.

Taking a deep breath she calls and sits to wait for the tow to show up.

"You need the tow?" a thin guy asks as he knocks on the window. She notices that there is another guy waiting in the truck.

"Yeah." she says getting out of the truck.

* * *

Gemma looked up from the paperwork when she hears the truck pull into the yard. She is still thinking about the conversation she had with Wendy. She should be at the hospital right now but a call for a tow came in and none of those boys are going to mess with her files.

"Thought we were done for the day." Tig says standing by the door to the office watching as Half-Sac and Jax get out of the truck.

"Almost." she tells him. _Hopefully this doesn't take forever._ Today is the day her grandson comes home.

"Damn, hate to be the guy on the other end of that call." Jax mutters, chuckling a little, coming into the office to give her the paperwork on the truck they just towed in.

"Why?" she asks watching as the client, a girl, gets out of the truck talking on the phone. She is a pretty thing, young... maybe early twenties, long reddish brown hair with small braids that stops at her waist, pale skin and a body that seems fit. She can see the hint of a tattoo but it is covered by the jacket she is wearing.

"She actually growled before answering the call." Jax says with a smirk.

They all pretend not to be listening as the girl gets closer to the office.

"Jake... it just broke down...Yes, I filled the tank... If memory serves me right, you and Paul, fuck all of the pack, looked it over hours before I even got on the road...Jacob Ephraim Black! You will stop growling at me right now!...I will call Angela and tell her to take a sex sabbatical for the rest of her pregnancy...That means you and your hand will become better antiquated again over the next four months...You don't think I'll do it... Ask Paul how long Rachel put him on one when I recommended it to her."

Jax and Tig flinch and she just smirks. _I like her._

"Do not threaten me! ... I do not need to be talked to like I am a mother fucking child...I will start calling you Edward if you continue to speak like that to me...When you act like him...I am hanging up...Jacob, I am not going back to Forks just because you don't..." the girl growls softly.

She shakes her head as Jax just stares at the girl as if she has three heads. Tig just watches as the girl starts playing with the beaded belt that she is wearing.

"I know... Yes, you are a the only one that truly knows my truck the best...You are the mechanic god...Uh huh...The instant I know what is going on I will call you. If I get a chance. I still need to find a place to stay until I can find something permanent ..Growl at me again and I am calling Angela... Love you too." the girl hangs up and turns to see that she has an audience. "Sorry about that."

"Mechanic God...?" Jax states with a smirk.

"Best friend and mechanic who doesn't trust anyone to touch my truck. Especially since he is the one that rebuilt the engine." she says shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, now I need to see if I can take the title of mechanic god away from him." Jax says as he leaves the office.

"Bella Swan." she says holding out her hand.

"Gemma Morrow." she says standing to shake the girl's hand.

"Morrow? Any relation to a Clay Morrow?" the girls asks with a smile on her face.

"My husband." she says barely keeping the snarl out of her voice. _Another one? I am going to kill him._ Tig straightens up ready to push the girl out of the office if need be.

The girl smiles softly. "Guess that makes you my aunt."

"Huh?" she asks dropping back into her seat.

"I'm Renee's daughter." she says sitting down.

"Tig, get Clay." she says with a glare at the man.

Tig just nods and all but runs out.

The girl, Bella, watches him. "I doubt that he knows about me. Last I knew my mom hadn't talked to him since before I was born. Even before their parents disowned him."

"I knew that he doesn't have a close relationship with his family but a niece." she mumbles under her breath. "How old are you?" she asks rubbing her head.

"Twenty-one. I'll be twenty-two in September."

"Gem, what up?"Clay asks coming into the office.

"Clay, I want you to meet Bella Swan...Your niece." Gemma says watching the emotions going across him face.

"Umm hi." she says standing up.

"I...I don't have a niece." he says looking at each of them.

"You have a younger sister named Renee, right?" the girl in front of him says biting her lip looking a little nervous. Her hands once again go down to play with the beaded belt.

He just nods and swallows the lump in his throat.

"I'm her daughter, which makes you my uncle. If it makes you feel better, I didn't know about you either." she says softly.

"It helps..." he says looking at Gemma not sure what to say or do.

"Umm how long you in town for?" Gemma asks getting up and standing by him.

"I'm moving here. Just got hired at the elementary school. I'm going to be taking over for a teacher that is retiring at the end of the year." she says brushing a piece of hair behind her ear that must have escaped one of her braids.

"SO close to the end of the school year?" Gemma asks.

She just shrugs with a smile on her face. "They want me to see how she teaches her class. I'm going to be her aide for the rest of the year so it easier on the kids come next year."

"Ma, I need to head out. One of the other guys has taken over looking at your truck for the time being. It's going to take longer than I thought." Jax says coming into the office. "Umm, what's going on?"

"Jax, I would like you to meet Clay's niece." Gemma says.

Jax just stares at them in utter shock. "I...umm...I need to go get Wendy then we are going to get Abel." he says finally remembering why he came into the office.

"Okay." Gemma says watching him leave. _I'll see him at the house._

"Abel?" Bella asked.

"My grandson, he's been in the hospital." Gemma says. "You know.. we are having a coming home party for him, why don't you join us?"

"I..."

"You're family. You should come." Clay says.

* * *

_I went with them to Jax's house. Gemma caught me up on who was who and everything else that I needed to know. Introduced me to the boys as her niece. It felt nice being part of a family since mine was so far away because that is what they are. Family._

_I instantly liked Piney, he reminded me of a combo of Billy and Old Quil._

_Knowing that Wendy was a recovering addict and trying to change did not make me like her. She reminded me too much of certain pack moms, who cared more about getting high or drunk than making sure that the boys were taken care of._

_Gemma and Clay were both surprised that I knew about the club and didn't care. Didn't like hearing that I was the daughter of a cop, a Police Chief at that, though._

_We talked for a while and it became clear to me that Gemma was the Alpha Bitch or Queen and proud of it._

_Clay surprised Gemma by offering me their spare bedroom, at least until I found something. Gemma even told me that I could use their garage for storage._

* * *

Jax and Wendy come in the door and everyone tried to surprise them but knew that they failed.

"He ready for his first brewski." Clay jokes and Jax takes the beer, which is a little hard since he was holding Abel.

"Give me that baby." Gemma says taking him out of his hands before sitting down. Wendy sits down next to her as Jax sits next to someone that Gemma had introduced as Tara, who was friends with Jax and Abel's doctor. _No love there._ Tara had glared at her the entire time Gemma had introduced them and now her glare was on Wendy. _The Doc is kinda a bitch._

"So.. you're Clay's niece?" one of the women says coming over to her.

"Yeah." she knows that Gemma told her the woman's name but unfortunately she blanked on it for a moment.

"Donna. Opie's wife." she said pointing at the guy talking to Jax. "So did you come to Charming to reconnect with Clay?"

"Kind of. Got offered a job here and Renee tried to talk me out of and let it slip that I had an uncle. Sorry, it's warmer than I'm use too." she says as she takes off her jacket and turns to place it on a chair near her.

"That is beautiful work." Donna said seeing her back.

"Thanks, my friend Paul drew it." she says moving her hair out of the way so Donna can see all of it.

The tattoo was beautiful. It was a dream-catcher but the web was strange, on top was what looked like a small grey wolf. The feathers went down her back tied to the dream-catcher with what looked like bullet-shells.

"Damn..." Tig whistles as he and Gemma join them.

"What?" Gemma asks. "Oh my..." she whispered seeing that her 'niece's upper back was nearly covered with a tattoo.

"My friend Paul is an amazing artist and knew that I wanted to get something special for my birthday so he drew this for me. The web of the dream catcher is actual a symbol for the protectors, the spirit warriors of the tribe along with the small sleeping wolf on top. The feathers are crow and raven feathers. He also included bullets and shells. Something to represent all of my family. It took hours for his fiancee to finish it."

Opie joins them by wrapping his arm around Donna's waist.

"And your wrist?" Opie says motions with his beer to her wrist, which had a scar on it.

She turned her wrist to reveal a crescent-shaped scar with 'Memories never fade' written under it. "A controlling ex." is all she said.

Seeing that this was a subject better left untouched, Donna,removing herself from Opie's arms, pulled her over to sit with Wendy.

"His fiancee?" Donna asks.

"Yeah, Rachel. She moved back home after being away for school to open a shop in La Push. Myself and some of our friends were her first customers." she said with a smile.

"May I?" Tig asks kneeling behind her.

She nods and he slowly traces the web of dream-catcher as well as the bullets and feathers.

"How does the tattoo represent you family?" Wendy asks having heard most of the conversation. Her question causes Tig to remove his hand and move away from them to go sit next to Piney and Donna's kids.

"The protector symbol and sleeping wolf is for my pack." her smile goes softer. "My protectors. My warriors. Sam, Jared, Paul, Embry, Jake, Leah, Seth and Quil. The dream catcher is for my friends Kim and Angela. The Raven feather is for the my elders Old Quil, Billy and Sue. The bullet and shells are for my dad."

"What about the crow feather?" Donna asks.

"It was added not that long ago...when I found out I had an uncle." she says softly looking over at Clay who was talking with some of the boys with a small smile.

"How come there isn't anything for your mom?" Gemma asks sitting down with Abel.

"She might be my mother but she hasn't been family for a long time."

Gemma just nods, understanding. She was pleased that the girl had added something on her tattoo for Clay, a man she didn't even know and nothing fo the woman that raised her.

"But she raised you?" Wendy says confused.

"No." she says sternly. "I raised me. I made sure that there was food in the house, our light bill was paid and that I kept my grades up. I was the adult from the time I was seven until I moved back with my dad at sixteen."

"I'm sorry..." Wendy starts.

"It's okay, you didn't know. Don't get me wrong I do love Renee but Sue has been more of a mother to me in the last few years than my own in my entire lifetime."

"Sue?" Donna asks smiling softly as she watches her kids.

"My dad remarried a few years ago. She's a nurse and member of the tribal council for La Push. She was one of my biggest supporters when I said that I wanted to move out here by myself."

"I hope to meet her." Gemma says rocking Abel.

She just bites her lip and smiles, thinking of two female Alphas being in the same room and not killing each other.

* * *

The party had been going on for awhile and she was talking to Donna, Gemma, Luann and Wendy when she saw Wendy's face fall. She turned to see that Tara is planting a kiss on Jax. _Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me._

She shocks everyone by going over and grabbing Tara by the arm, digging her nails in and pulling her out of the room.

"Are you fucking nuts?!" she yells the instant she pulls her into what she guesses is Abel's room.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Tara snarled pulling her arm out of her hold.

"Oh please, I learned from the best so don't even think about trying to out bitch me. Honey, I'll give it right fucking back and make your fucking head spin. I don't like people fucking with my family especially spiteful dried up shrews."

Tara just glares at her rubbing her arm. She looked down and noticed that she had nearly dawn blood from digging her nails into her arm.

"Do you fucking think trying to claim a man at his son's coming home party... in front of a recovering addict was actually a smart move? Do you want to be the reason that she relapses?" she knows she is yelling but right now she doesn't even care if everyone can hear her.

"I..." Tara tries to look annoyed but slight clarity comes into her eyes.

"Seriously, you should know better than most how easily it is for an addict to relapse. You're a fucking doctor! Are you trying to make it that Abel loses his mother completely by being a spiteful, spoiled bitch!?" she yells getting right in Tara's face.

"Excuse me..." Jax says entering the room.

"I'll let you deal with this." she pretty much snarls walking out and closing the door behind her.

Wendy just smiles at her when she rejoins them. Gemma smirks and nods, proud.

"Dealt with things like that before?" Donna asks with a grin as she sits down next to her.

"Kind of. My step sister, Leah, her fiancee left her a couple weeks before the wedding for her cousin. She had no idea things were bad and a week later Emily was moving in with him. What Tara just did is something that Emily has done more than once when the three of them are in the same place. Part of her knows that Leah still has feeling for him and likes to rub it in Leah's face that he is with her. It's one of the reasons I don't get along very well with her. I'm not big on girls that think they have to make a claim in front of the ex." she says softly. The rest of what she was going to say was cut off when they heard a slap.

They watched as Tara stalked out of the house, Jax not far behind. They watch as Jax motions to a guy near the door, Juice she thinks, to follow Tara. She just hides her smirk when Opie gives him a beer, shaking his head and laughing.

"Umm Donna..." she motions to her kids, who are slowly falling asleep on Piney.

"That's my cue." she says with a smile going over to Opie.

* * *

Opie helps Donna get the kids in the car.

"Donna, hold on a minute." she calls over the sound of one of the bikes as someone leaves.

Opie stops at the truck to see what's going on.

"Glad I caught you." she says coming to stand by the car.

"What's up?" Opie asks coming over to them.

"Sorry, I just wanted to give Donna my number before she left so that we can get together and talk some more." she says holding out a scrap of paper. Donna leans out the window and takes it.

"I'm glad you came to Charming." Donna says with a smile on her face that Opie hasn't seen in a while.

"Babe, why don't you stay and I'll bring the kids home." Opie says opening the door and giving her his car keys.

"Are you sure?" Donna asks.

"Yeah." Opie says kissing her before getting into the car.

"Thank you." she says as he drives off.

"I think the party is dying down. You stayed to help us clean, didn't you?" Bella says with a grin.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to grab some cleaning stuff cause I doubt that Jax has anything." Donna says causing both of them to laugh. She watches as Donna gets into Opie's car and drives off before heading inside.

She sits down next to Gemma, who finally gives up Abel.

"Donna ran to the store. She's gonna come back to help us clean up."

"Really?"

She nods as Gemma and Wendy get up to start collecting the cups and plates to work on dishes.

Clay sits down next to her and neither say a word. She opens her mouth to ask him something when his phone starts going off.

"I'll be right back." he says getting up and going outside.

* * *

Unser apologizes for interrupting Abel's party and tells him how Stahl set Opie up.

Clay pales and thanks him barely waiting before getting his phone out to call Tig.

"You okay baby?" Gemma asks when he walks though the door. He doesn't say a word just walks into the living room and sits down next to Bella

"Uncle Clay?" she says softly when he places his arm on her shoulders and just stares at the ceiling. _What just happened?_

Moments later, all the guy's phones start going off.

"What's going on?" Gemma asks seeing Jax pale.

"There's been an accident. Donna..." Jax says softly.

"Go." they says and all the boys pile out. Within moments the sound of bikes fill the night.

* * *

The three of them wait until Jax walks through the door.

Gemma just gets up and pulls him into a hug.

"What happened?" Bella asks coming over to them.

"Drive by. She didn't..she was gone..." he tells them.

"Opie...?" Gemma asks.

He just shakes his head. "You two should head home." he tells them.

"What about Abel?" Gemma asks.

"I can take care of him." he tells her.

"Gemma, I'm sure uncle Clay needs you." she says placing a hand on her arm.

"Oh...are you sure?" Gemma asks looking at Jax.

"It's time for me to be a parent." he says sure of himself.

She leads Gemma out of the house and takes them home.

Gemma instantly goes inside to be with Clay.

She sits down on a step outside and pulls her phone out of her pocket and dials.

"Hey little bit, how goes it?" Paul answers. She can hear the others in the background. _Must be having a meeting._

"Is Leah around..I really need to talk to her." she says hoarsely.

"Bells, what's wrong?" he asks.

"Paul, please." she whispers.

"Bells, what's going on baby?" Leah says as she comes on the line.

"I ..oh god...How do I do this?" she says.

"Bells.. what's going on?"

"This girl I met tonight..she's dead. She ran to the store to get some cleaning supplies and was killed in a drive-by."

"Bells..."

"The truck broke down as I'm sure Jake told all of you about, and my uncle's company was the closest to tow it to their shop. I met my uncle and my aunt. Her son was bringing his little boy home from the hospital so they invited me to the party that they were having for him. I met Donna, you would have liked her... Lee-lee, she had a husband and two kids. She was part of this family...how..."

"Breathe. Be there for them like you were there for me and Seth when we lost dad. That's all you can do."

"I know...I just..." she whispers.

"Bella..." Gemma says coming outside.

"I'll call you later, Leah. Thanks."

"Anytime." Leah says before hanging up.

"You okay?" Gemma asks sitting down next to her.

"Had a little breakdown. Needed my big 'sister'." she says softly. "Clay?"

"Sleeping, I hope." she says as she wraps her arm around her and the two of them sit there looking up at the night sky, not saying a word.

* * *

Jax sits in Abel's room holding him. Wendy watches him from the doorway, her arms wrapped around herself.

* * *

Mary, Opie's mother, comforts Piney.

* * *

Gemma crawls into bed and Clay, not asleep, lays his head in her lap and breaks down.

* * *

Tig clenches the bathroom sink and stares at his reflection in the broken mirror, blood running down his face.

* * *

Chibs and Juice drink wordlessly.

* * *

Opie cries while his children sleep in the bed behind him.

* * *

Bella sits on the bed and looks though the photos on her phone that she had taken during the party, wiping tears from her eyes every so often.


	2. Chapter 2

Opie is watching his children on the swings when Jax joins him. He stands up to hug him before sitting back down.

"How are they doing?" Jax asks.

"Not good. She's been crying most of the morning and he just..it hasn't clicked in yet."

"If you need anything.."

"I know... You know, she knew something like this would happen..." Opie mumbles.

"This isn't you fault..."

"Not my fault..A banger shot my wife because of a buy gone wrong." he just scoffs and gets up and goes over to his kids ignoring Jax and whatever he has to say.

* * *

Clay sits at the table, his cup of coffee going cold.

"Need some help?" Gemma asks staring at him.

"Nope.." he says softly taking a sip of his coffee.

"Last night...you were upset and...Was that our mistake?" she asks wanting him to deny it. He just places his head in his hands. "Dammit." she mutters. "Jax?"

"Knows the same as everyone else, Donna's death was a retaliation." he mutters hoarsely. "You think I wanted this...it was suppose to be Opie..." he tells her slowly breaking down.

She places her hand over his. "Feel all of that here and now baby but when you walk out that door be the man the club needs you to be."

He wipes the tears out of his eyes and gets up to leave.

"She right, you know." Bella says walking into the room, her eyes red from proof of her crying.

"Bella..." Gemma says standing.

"You made the wrong call. So you and whoever pulled that damn trigger are going to live with that...but your brothers, your friends.. need you to be strong. You have two options. Wallow in self-doubt and let everything around you fall apart at the seams or deal with it and be the Alpha that they know and need right now." she tells him and feeling them staring at her, she turns and leaves the room.

She quickly takes a shower and is standing in jeans and her bra when her phone starts ringing.

"Hey dad." she answers with a small smile.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a pack of worried wolves from leaving the area?" he growls at her.

She laughs softly, picks up her tank top and quickly slips it on. "Well, since they are scared of you..pretty easy."

"I wish. Don't be surprised when your brother and sister show up."

"Dad..."

"Don't argue, Bells. Seth was already on his way with your stuff anyway. Leah just decided to go join him. You are lucky that Angela is pregnant or Jake would be joining them. You have a storage unit, right?"

"Clay and Gemma are going to let me use their garage for most of my stuff that I don't need right away." she tells him as she goes through her tops to find one of her dad's old button-ups and slips it on, rolling up the sleeves. She smiles when she smells a light scent of her dad and the pack scents lingering on the shirt.

"How are you doing with everything?"

"I'm okay. Dad, I love you."

"Love you too kiddo. Keep in touch and let me know what's going on."

"I will. Go to work." she says laughing as they hang up.

She goes back out to the dining room where Gemma is waiting for her with a cup of coffee for each of them. She sits down with her.

"So now you know.." Gemma starts.

"He messed up. I'm guessing that he was given the wrong information and I think he tried to fix it but it was too late."

"You seem okay with this..for a cop's daughter."

She scoffs, "Oh I am far from okay but I'm dealing."

"You know if you stay..."

"You and Clay are my family. Which means Jax, Opie, Abel, those kids and all of those boys are my family, too. Like I told Tara, no one fucks with my family."

Gemma just smirks, "You'll fit in just fine." she gets up and crosses to the kitchen to clean her mug. "I'm going to help Wendy clean, would you like to come with me?"

"Sure." she says coming over to her and hands her the empty coffee cup.

* * *

At Chapel, all of the Sons are quiet as they sit sown.

"How is he?" Clay asks Jax.

"I don't know..."

Piney just scoffs, visibly upset.

"There isn't going to be a viewing. The funeral is tomorrow." Jax tells them.

"Let's get people here. A strong show of support..."

"Happy is still around. I'll start making some calls." Juice said.

Taking a deep breath, "This is my fault. I pushed for that Mayan deal. I never thought it would come to this." he says.

Piney just glares at him.

"We all voted yes." Chib says.

"It happened... now how do we deal with it?" Piney asks.

"It will be dealt with but for now let's be there for Opie." Clay tells him.

"We help my boy by settling the score." Piney nearly yells.

"I know you're hurting and think that you're helping..."

"Don't tell me what I'm thinking. If this was your family, like that pretty little thing that showed up, we would be going to war."

"This DID happen to my family."

"NO it didn't. It's my daughter-in-law that was gunned down." Piney says as he stands as stalks out.

Jax goes after him and after being unable to convince him to stand down, he sends Half-Sac to follow him.

* * *

At Jax's house, Gemma begins to unpack his things.

"What are you doing?" Bella asks.

"Figured since I'm here, get these unpacked otherwise they'll sit here for another month." Gemma tells here.

"Makes sense." she says taking down the decorations from the party.

"Gemma, could I borrow your car? Need more wipes." Wendy says coming into the room and putting the baby monitor on the table.

"Sure, my purse is on the table. Take some cash if you need too." Gemma says placing a box on the table. Wendy goes over and under Bella's observation takes a lot of cash out of Gemma's wallet.

"So, how are you and Jax doing?" Gemma asks.

"He has his doubts..." Wendy states.

"That's understandable." Bella says.

Wendy nods. "I'm gonna convince him. Show him that I am still the woman he fell in love with."

"Good for you." Gemma says as she opens the box. "Ugh."

"Is that dirty clothes?" Bella ask with a smile. _Typical guy._

Wendy grins and grabs the keys to leave.

She hands Gemma a laundry basket and Gemma dumps the box into it. She freezes when she uncovers something. "Gemma?" she asks.

Gemma doesn't answer she just grabs the papers she found and leaves the room.

"What the hell was that about?" she whispers to the empty room.

* * *

Rosen brings them bad news, when the witness is revealed, Opie will be charged in the murder along with Bobby. If that happens it will be leaving his children without any parents.

Rosen drives off and they kick a few workers out of the garage to talk.

"Their whole case against Bobby and Opie is that fucking witness. No witness, no case. So we gotta get to him."

"Wit pro' usually means safe house. Twenty-four hour protection." Chibs says.

"Opie goes back to prison, what happens to his kids? They're gonna end up in the system. Let's not forget Bobby. He got I.D.'d... 'cause he had to clean up after Ope's mistake." Clay tells them.

"No matter what, we gotta do this before the funeral. Ope's family can not take another hit." Jax says.

They all agree.

"Maybe Trammel can help. If the safe house is in his area, he's probably got sheriffs on him." Tig says.

"Call Happy. I'm sure one of those tats is for a dead witness." Clay tells Juice.

Juice nods as Jax's phone starts ringing, seeing that it is Half Sac, he answers.

"What the hell is he doin' in Oakland?" Jax snarls. The rest of the club looks at him in confusion.

"Piney went lookin' for Laroy." he tells them.

"Crazy old kook." Clay yells.

"Where you at? All right, stay on him. We're on our way. Let's go get him." Jax turns to leave, Chibs not that far behind.

"Get him out of there! Let's go find Trammel." he yells after them before turning to Juice and Tig.

* * *

Clay, Tig and Juice go to see Trummell in hopes of getting the name of the witness only to be told that he is going to need a case number before he can give out the name.

* * *

Knowing who can get the information, they head over to Elliott Oswald's place.

"Oswald." Clay calls out as they get to the stable.

"Clay..who let you in?" Oswald says looking around nervously.

"Told them we were here to work on the cars. Guess we look like the help." Clay says with a laugh.

Juice sits on a railing while Tig maneuvers around the horse Oswald is brushing until he is facing him.

"You wouldn't happen to know any judges that owe you a favor or two?" he asks loving how Oswald is nervous.

"Maybe."

"Well, I am gonna need you to call one. I need a case number."

"And what makes you think I will do that?" Oswald sneers.

Tig pulls a baggie out of his pocket and shows Oswald the bloody knife.

"That right there is the knife that killed the man that raped your daughter, with your prints all over it. I also happen to know where said body is buried. Body, murder weapon and motive. The three things needed to go away for murder. If I don't get that number, I just might have to do my civic duty and reveal this knowledge."

Oswald promises to help, having no choice if he wants to stay a free man. He and Juice head towards the house.

"I'll just wait here." he calls after them.

They have been sitting there awhile when Tig turns to him.

"Yesterday..." he takes a deep breath. "Yesterday... at the warehouse, Opie, he, uh... He saved me from getting my head blown off and then I had a clear shot at him and I couldn't take it." he wipes a hand over his face. "You know shooting out the back of the truck... I was afraid.." his voice trembles as he continues. "I was afraid that if I saw his face I couldn't pull the trigger. I didn't know Clay, I didn't know it was Donna until it was done."

"I depend on you so much with that shit..That I forget the weight of it all." he says standing and placing his hand on Tig's shoulder before pulling him in a hug. "Not being able to pull the trigger just shows me that you have love for your brothers. Nothing wrong with that. You're gonna get pass this."

They are standing there when Juice and Oswald return.

"Here." Oswald says handing him a slip of paper.

"Pleasure doing buisness with you." he says taking it a turns to leave.

"About that knife..." Oswald calls after him.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna hold on to that for the time being." he says as they walk away. "You get in touch with Happy?" he asks Juice.

"Yeah and the knowledge he has about WitSec is scary." Juice tries to joke.

"Get that number to Trummell..."

"Me, Happy and Chibs will go." Tig tells him.

"You sure?"

"I need to do this."

"Alright."

* * *

Jax and Laroy arrive at the same time.

Piney, after being hit in the chest by Half-Sac, puts down his gun and agrees to talk.

Laroy denies killing Donna. He points out that if he needed to go to Charming to kill woman, he would have killed both Piney and Jackson on sight.

_Well Fuck._

* * *

Alone in Able's room, Gemma reads the manuscript.

She comes in when she hears Abel begin to cry. "Gemma?" she asks.

Gemma looks at her, her eyes haunted.

She picks up Abel and starts feeding him the bottle. "What's wrong?"

"This..." Gemma places a hand on the manuscript. "Jax's father wrote it. It's something I prayed he would never find..."

"Whatever is written doesn't look like Jax liked it." Gemma looks at her in confusion. "It's burnt and was buried at the bottom of a box full of dirty clothes. If we get rid of it, he'll never know."

"But..."

"Aunt Gemma, he read it and tried to get rid of it. That has to mean something." she tells her

Gemma just shakes her head and leaves the room. She follows with Abel in her arms to see her put the burnt manuscript in her bag as Wendy enters the house.

"You get wipes?" she asks. _Long ass trip just to get one thing._

Wendy lifts the bag in her hands with a smile.

"I'm heading back to the office. You staying here or coming with me?" Gemma asks her.

She opens her mouth to answer when her phone let's her know that she just got a text. Carefully pulling the phone out of her pocket and opening it she sees that it is from Leah.

**Baby Bells~ not far from Charming. We'll meet you at your uncle's shop? If not there text me asap cause the pup is driving like a madman.**

She laughs softly, "I'll go with you. My brother and sister are going to be meeting us there with my stuff. I'll take them back to the house."

Gemma just nods.

* * *

Opie drinks alone staring at his kutte.

* * *

Gemma pulls into her spot next to a U-Haul truck. Two people get out. A young man and young woman, both native Americans. Bella smiles before letting out a happy laugh and gets out of the car and runs into their arms.

She slowly gets out of the car and walks over to join them.

"How you doing baby Bells?" she hears the girl ask.

"I'm doing. Oh, Gemma." she turns to her with a smile. "This is my sister Leah and younger brother Seth."

"Younger?" she asks looking at the boy in front of her. _I would have put Bella as the youngest._

The girl next to Bella laughs as she wraps her arms around Bells waist. "Seth is only eighteen."

She shakes her head is about to say something when they hear a bike pull into the yard.

"Jax." Gemma says as he gets off his bike and comes over to them.

"Ma..Clay around?" Jax asks clearly upset.

"No.."

"Let him know that I'll be in Chapel waiting for him." Jax says and turns to go.

"Rude much." Leah scoffs.

"Excuse me?" he says finally noticing that his mom wasn't by herself. "Oh shit..ummmm.."

"Leah, this is Jackson. Aunt Gemma's impatient and unobservant son." Bella introduces with a smirk. "Jax, this is my sister Leah and brother Seth."

He just nods at them.

"I'll tell him that you are looking for him." Gemma tells him and he walks off. Gemma exchanges a look with her before she hands her the house keys and heads to the office.

"Bells, you have explaining to do." Leah tells her.

"Not here. Let's go." she says as the get into the U-Haul.

* * *

They pull into the driveway.

"Okay, start explaining cause that was the quietest you have ever been." Leah tells her.

"Trying to think how to word it." she says as unlocks the door.

"Seth, take care of her stuff while we talk." Leah tells him as he opens the U-Haul.

"You're not in La Push. People will take notice of how large your loads are." she calls out to him as she and Leah head inside to sit down.

"What's going on?" Leah asks forcing her to turn towards her.

"You remember how I told you about that girl, Donna."

"The one that was killed in a drive-by." she says nodding.

"It wasn't a drive-by, I overheard Gemma and Clay this morning. It was meant for Opie, Donna's husband." she takes a deep breath. "According to Gemma, who I guess was able to get information out of him while I was in the shower. This ATF bitch Stahl made it look like Opie was a rat. So my uncle ordered someone to take him out."

"Okay but how did...?"

"Donna and Opie switched vehicles last night. Just so she could stay longer and help...Opie went home with the kids and she had his truck." her eyes start to water.

"Bells..."

"I'm okay. I knew even before I overheard them that something was going on." she says wiping the few tears that escaped away.

"Of course you did." Leah says placing a hand on her arm.

"I'm surprised dad isn't on his way to convince me to come home."

"Why?" Seth asks coming into the room.

"Take your pick. Worry about something happening to me or me getting involved fully with SAMCRO."

"Fully involved? You lost me." Leah says.

"Me too." Seth agrees.

"They're family, how can I not become fully involved."

"In a few days...well at least no one is trying to kill you." Leah says with a smirk.

"Yeah, for once, you're not the one with a target on your back." Seth tries to joke.

_Yet._

* * *

Clay finds Gemma pacing in the office. "Jax knows." she tells him the instant he shuts the door.

"Really what does he know?"

"More than I would like." she says grabbing the burnt manuscript out of her bag and handing it to him. "He's read it."

"You're being paranoid." he tells he getting upset. "Seems Jax stated burning it so he didn't like what was written. Finish the job."

He stalks out of the office not bothering to let her reply. He enters Chapel to find Jax sitting waiting for him. He sits down when Jax finally starts talking.

"A couple days ago, you sat there and swore to me... that everything was good with Opie. So I am asking you brother to brother, father to son, did you have anything to do with Donna's murder?"

He takes a deep breath. "I don't know who has been putting these thoughts in your head. I love Opie, loved Donna. I had nothing to do with this."

Jax gets up, clenching his jaw and goes to leave the room.

"Things like this...can have repercussions." he tells him.

"Yeah, it can." Jax agrees and goes out to where Juice is staring at a computer. "What's up?"

"You know that witness..." Juice starts.

"Yeah."

"It's a seventeen year old girl."

"Shit. Send me the address." he says tearing off his kutte and grabbing on of the guns on the counter.

"Jackson!" Clay yells after him as he tears out of the clubhouse.

* * *

"Whose place is this?" Leah asks as she pulls into the driveway.

"Mr. Rude boy himself, Jax." she says getting out of the car with Seth and Leah following her. "I want you to meet Abel and Wendy." she stops short of the door. "Wendy is a recovering addict, so if you smell anything on her let me know because it's been a least a month since she should have used."

Seth and Leah nod understanding. She turns and doesn't even bother knocking to enter the house. And walks in to the most quiet living room ever. Gemma, Tara and Wendy are sitting there kind of staring at each other.

"Hey..." she says looking at the three of them.

"Hey Bella." Wendy says with a smile. "Who are your friends?"

"This is Leah and Seth, my siblings." she says going over to her and taking Abel from her arms when he starts fussing.

"Nice to meet you." Leah says.

"Good to see you again." Gemma says.

She brings Abel over to them. "This is Abel. One strong little guy."

Seth tilts his head at her in confusion.

Gemma laughs softly. "He is a strong little boy. Born ten weeks early and with the family flaw. Looking at him now, you can't tell."

"I'm no longer the pup." Seth says laughing.

She growls at him softly, "Acting like that makes you still the pup."

He whines softly.

"He's beautiful." Leah says coming close to her to look at the baby over her shoulder. _Makes you want to have a baby doesn't it, sis._

"Thank you." Wendy says standing and coming over to them. "I'm Wendy."

Leah and Seth each shake her hand. Both start growling so softly that only she catches it.

"I'm going to change him and put him to bed." she tells Wendy and heads towards his room.

"I'll help. Need practice for when Angela has the baby." Leah says following her.

"What is it?" she asks as she places Abel on the changing table.

"Fresh scent of something, at least a couple hours old. She did something recently."

"Well, I know that nearly everyone smokes up." she says giggling when Abel grabs at her hair.

"I know that smell and I smell that on Gemma, so I figured that was okay but this is something that I haven't smelled before. What was her drug of choice?"

"Meth." Gemma says entering the room."What's going on?"

"Seth and Leah have a really good sense of smell..." she starts trying to figure out a good excuse.

"I know Wendy is a recovering addict so I'm not sure if I'm smelling her detox or her starting back up." Leah tells her.

"That's some nose. If she is using again, she will never see her son again. I already promised her that." Gemma tells them as she comes over and takes Abel from her. "Tomorrow is the funeral, we'll deal with it afterwards. Tomorrow is about Opie."

She nods as Gemma places Abel in his crib and they all return to the living room.

* * *

Jax bursts through the back door to find Tig holding a gun to the girl's head.

Holding a gun to Tig's head, "Put the gun down. We don't kill women."

Tig refuses, continuing to aim his gun at the girl.

"I will kill you if you pull that trigger."

Happy and Chibs just stare at the two of them until Tig puts up his gun.

"Leave." he tells them. When they seem unsure, "Go. Now."

They reluctantly leave the two of them alone with the witness.

He then unties the girl and removes the blindfold so she is looking right at them. "You see me. You see him."

She nods.

"He will kill you if you even think about testifying. You are going to leave California tonight and disappear. Do you understand?"

She just stares at him.

It doesn't take much more for him to scare he before she runs out the back door.

"You crossed a line." Tig tells him as he straightens.

"Not yet." he says before attacking him.

* * *

Jax wakes up the next morning, having spent the night at the cemetery.

He hands the blanket back to a homeless woman, and then goes and washes the blood off of his hands and face.

* * *

Clay and Gemma are getting ready for the funeral.

He has trouble with the cuffs on his shirt when his hand starts acting up and Gemma helps him.

* * *

Bella finishes braiding her hair and puts on her ballerina flats. Leah places a hand on her shoulder and sits her back down and picking up a necklace off the dresser, a silver cross on one of her dad's shell casings that Seth turned into a charm and helps her put it on.

"Seth and I will be here when you get back. We offered to watch Abel. A baby doesn't need to go to a funeral." she says fixing the necklace.

She wraps her arms around her sister before going to join Gemma and Clay.

* * *

Opie is dressing when his mother brings Kenny and Ellie in. They too are dressed for the funeral.

Opie helps Kenny with his tie by taking it off.

He grabs his kutte as they head out of the room.

* * *

The MC club, joined by several charters, arrive at the cemetery. She sits down between Gemma and Wendy.

Jax shows up halfway through the service, beat up.

She looks at Tig out the corner of her eye, finally understanding. _So it was Tig that killed Donna and Jax knows it. How the hell did he find out?_

She watches as Tara walks over to him with his kutte. She glances at Wendy when the two of them kiss, to see her look ready to break down even more. _I don't feel bad for you, if you're using..You are never coming within a foot of that little boy ever again._

He nods to Tara and she smiles. He walks to the coffin places a rose, kisses it and leaves.

When the funeral comes to an end, she stays where she is as Clay and Gemma go in the direction that Jax walked off in.

"You coming?" Juice asks her.

She shakes her head 'no' and goes over to Opie and his children. "Opie." she says softly. He just looks at her. The kids barely even acknowledge her. They remind her so much of Seth and Leah in that moment that all she wants to do is wrap her arms around them and make this bearable. Swallowing she takes a envelop out of her bag and hands it to him. "I took a lot of photos at Abel party. I thought that you might want these."

He opens the envelop to find photos of Donna. Some with him, some with the kids. The kids with his dad. There are even a couple of Donna holding Abel. "Thank you." he says hoarsely.

"If you...if you need someone to talk to.." she says wrapping her arms around herself.

He nods and walks his kids over to his mom.

* * *

He is smoking a cigarette, sitting on his brother's grace stone when Piney joins him.

"It's time for a change." Piney says handing him a intact copy of his father's manuscript before walking back towards where the funeral had been.

* * *

Wendy quickly rushes around the room, throwing her things into a bag on the bed. Zipping it up she leaves the house without a backward glance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sandbox belongs to Kurt Sutter & SM I'm just having fun with their creations

Bella turns off her alarm. Today was her first week at work. Leah and Seth had return to La Push the day before after staying with her for a few days. She had been happy and sad to see them leave. Happy because it meant that she was moving forward and sad since they were her siblings and she would miss not having them only a few minutes away.

The teacher had emailed her a list of her students so that she would know all of them before she got there and it seems Opie's son, Kenny was in her class.

"Bella, you awake?" Gemma calls through the door.

"Yeah." she calls out getting out of bed. Luckily she had showered last night so all she had to do was get dressed and such.

She is putting a couple notebooks into her messenger bag as she comes into the kitchen.

"Sit." Clay says getting her attention.

She looks up to find a spread on the table. Eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes and toast. Plus coffee and orange juice.

"What's this?" she asks with a smile sitting down as Gemma joins them.

"Thought it would be nice for you have a full meal before work plus doesn't hurt to sit down as a family once in a while." Gemma tells her.

She smiles as they dish food onto their plates.

* * *

She steps into the principal's office to find Opie, Mary, Piney, Kenny and Ellie as well as the teacher she is taking over for sitting there.

"Ah, Miss Swan. Thank you for getting here early today."

She nods and sits down. She is able to catch the kids eyes and exchanges a small smile with them.

"Now..I'm not sure if you are aware of what has happened to the Winston family..."

"I'm well aware." she tells him cutting him off when she notices that both kids and Opie are getting upset.

"Huh?"

"I am aware of what happened to Opie's family."

"Opie...oh Mr. Winston. I wasn't aware that you were acquainted with anyone in the area."

"Clay Morrow, Opie's boss, is my uncle." she states narrowing her eyes at him.

"Ah, yes..Well..ummm.."he fidgets at his desk. Even the other teacher looks like a loss for words.

"Was this meeting for me to meet Kenny and his family so I would be aware that he might have some adjustments that are going on in his home." she says hiding her smirk when Piney scoffs at the principal struggling to find words.

"Yes! That is correct." he says with a smile.

"If that is all, I should get Kenny and Ellie to their classes." she says standing bringing this unneeded meeting to an end.

He nods, standing and motions for them to follow her out. The teacher stays behind and closes the door behind them.

"Oh you are definitely related to Clay." Piney says just barely loud enough to hear as he brushes past her. She watches as Opie hugs both Kenny and Ellie.

"He's leaving." Mary told her.

"What?"

"In the next few days. He says that he needs to clear his head. A walkabout. I'm going to be taking care of the kids."

"Does Jax...?"

"They know. So Kenny will be in your class."

"Yeah. Don't worry I'll watch out for him... and her when I can." she says watching as Opie moves away from his kids and walks out the door. "Kenny. Ellie. Time for class." she nods to Mary as she and the kids head to class.

* * *

She pulls into Jax's driveway later that night, not surprised that Gemma was still there. Part of her wishes she had sent Leah after Wendy but if that woman ever dares to show her face it will be too soon.

"Gemma?!" she calls.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Giving you a break. I'll stay here until Jax shows up." she says placing her bag on the couch and reaching to take Abel out of her arms.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Gemma kisses Abel and hands him over. "He just ate so..." she says picking up her bag.

"Go."

Four hours later, she is sitting on the couch when Jax walks in.

"Where's ma?" he asks as he heads to Abel's room.

"Let her go home so we can talk." she says following him.

"We have nothing to talk about."

"I think we do."

"Really? What the hell do we have to talk about?"

"I know all right. SO would you stop the posturing."

"Know what?" he says leaning against the changing table.

"That Tig killed Donna because Clay was duped by Stahl to think Opie was a traitor to the club." she says watching his face go cold. "I am not defending him. He's my family but we need to keep this from Opie, he is not in a good place."

"How did you find out?"

"Overheard him. You?"

"Hale confirmed what I thought. You're right that Opie shouldn't know this. We protect him and the club."

Wiping a a stray tear off her face, "Even from my uncle." she says softly before turning to leave.

"Wait..." Jax says moving around her and goes into his bedroom, she follows him a little confused. He pulls something from under his bed, a leather bound book of sorts.

"My dad wrote this. It's his vision for the club, what went wrong and how to save it." he says holding out to her.

She takes it and opens it slowly. "It okay if I read it?"

"Maybe having my cousin help me fix our club, is what needs to happen." he says honestly.

"Cousin..yeah." she says softly and sits down to read.

* * *

**A Couple Weeks later**

Jax and the boys test out some new automatic weapons.

* * *

Opie rides alone. Heading home to Charming from his walkabout.

* * *

Piney pulls into the school parking lot as Kenny and Ellie get out of the car.

"Bella!" Ellie yells running over to her and giving her a quick hug.

"Hi." she says smiling softly at the girl and kneeling in front of her, "Ellie, it's Miss Swan when we are at school." Over the last few weeks she spent as much time as possible around Ellie and Kenny. Mary was thankful because it gave her a break and both kids enjoyed spending time with her outside of school.

"Bella, can you make sure they get home today?" Piney asks.

"Of course. Go on you two." she says motioning them to go into the school. She walks over to the car, "He comes home today?"

Piney nods.

"Good, they need their dad." she says as he drives off.

* * *

Gemma rushes into the hospital with Abel for his check up. She notices Chief Unser praying in the chapel but is unable to stop since she is running a little behind.

* * *

"What do you think, gentlemen?" one of the Irish ask as they walk inside the empty warehouse.

"How do these break down to ship?" Clay asks.

"They don't." Cameron tells them.

"Where you going with this, Cam?" Clay asks.

"True IRA is really picking up momentum. North country's getting hot and we need to step up our cash flow."

"You want us to run them?" Jax asks scoffing.

Cameron nods.

"We're out of the errand business. We buy, we assemble, we sell. End of story." Clay tells them.

"Come on, Clay. We both know you still got an ATF target on your back. You really think it's safe filling this new space with illegal gun parts?" Cameron says motioning to the empty warehouse.

"What's the deal?" Jax asks before Clay can open his mouth to tell Cameron off.

"We sell, ship, store. You load your saddlebags, deliver. Charter to charter. Give you 20%. We get 60%, we assemble our own."

"You carry all the risk and overhead." Cameron's son, Edmond pipes up.

"Eddie will be your point guy. This is a win-win, Clay. We'll let you talk it through." he motions to his son to follow him.

"It's bullshit." Chibs explodes. "They've still got access to the Russian surplus. They're just trying to stonewall us till we play along."

"He's right about the Feds. Doesn't matter what dummy corp we use or how far off the grid we are. If ATF decides to put a tail on any one of us, we're going to lead them right back here." Juice tries to explain.

"What do you think?" Clay says looking at Jax.

"Go get the Irish." Jax tells Half-Sac who runs over to have them join. "You get us the Russian guns we need to keep our Oakland business intact. We use your facility to store and assemble. Then we'll run your hardware up the coast. But MC Pony Express is going to cost you thirty percent."

"Twenty-five." Eddie tries to negotiate.

"Twenty-eight. And the Russian stock."

"Fine." Cameron says as he and his son walk off.

"It's a temporary fix. Keeps us in the gun business till all of this blows over."

"Let's vote." Clay says

They all agree.

"Now that we're keeping the Oakland business, who the hell we gonna sell guns to?" Chibs asks looking at both Jax and Clay.

"Opie back yet?" Clay asks.

"He's suppose to be back today."

"All right, let's sit down, figure out the next move." Clay says.

"Yeah. We should do that." Jax says and all but stalks over to his bike.

* * *

Jax pulls up to Opie's house to find him in his garage with an old bike frame in the middle of it.

Opie comes right over and hugs him. "It's good to see you, brother."

"Yeah. How was the walkabout?" Jax asks.

"Okay." he says and turns back to the bike frame.

"What's this? Panhead EG. sixty-three?"

"'Sixty-five." he says with a smirk.

"Where'd you find it?"

"Found this used parts guy. Electra Glide was just rotting behind some garage. It's all there."

"This'll keep you busy."

"That's the idea." he says softly.

"I missed you, man."

"Missed ya, too. How's everybody doing?"

"You know, gettin' things done. Wendy disappeared. Never checked into that sober house." Opie just shakes his head at the news.

He stands there a minute before running a hand through his hair. "We made a new deal with the Irish. Gonna run handguns up the coast till the ATF heat dies down."

"What about business?"

"We keep supplying Oakland. We just need to figure out who that supply goes to."

Opie nods understanding.

"We're going to be sitting down to figure things. Waited until you got back."

"Hey, Jax." Mary says coming outside.

"Hey, Mary." Jax says hugging her.

"He's too skinny, right?" she says looking at her son.

"We'll beef him up." Jax tells her with a grin.

"Kids will be so glad to see you."

"I got some things to take care of. You mind picking them up from school, Ma?"

"Bella is giving them a ride home." Mary tells him.

"What?"

"Bella is family, man." Jax tells him.

Opie looks at him in confusion. "Alright. I'll see them later. Meet you at the clubhouse." he gets on his bike and rides away.

"Take care of him, Jax."

Jax just nods.

* * *

Gemma waits in one of the exam rooms and is holding her grandson when Tara comes into the room.

"He's perfect." she says looking at her chart before smiling at Gemma. "CBC, CMP's were all normal. His weight needs to come up a little bit, but other than that..."

"He's still real fussy with the feedings. Not even Bella is having luck getting him to eat."

"Could be the formula. We can try soy base." Tara says gritting her teeth at the mention of Bella, still annoyed how the girl treated her weeks ago.

"I don't want to turn him into a little vegan pussy."

"He can drink it in his wife-beater onesie." Tara tries to joke.

Gemma smirks, "Oh, Dr. Funny. How's his sleep apnea?"

"Times I'm there, he's sleeping fine." Tara says.

Gemma just nods.

* * *

"Wayne?" Gemma says finding Unser sitting on a bench outside the hospital.

"Gemma. The little guy doing okay?"

"Yeah. Just need to beef him up a little. You?"

"Right as rain. This is just a follow-up."

"How are you doing?"

"The BCG's are keeping it contained to my bladder."

"Guess that's good."

Unser nods.

"You waiting on Della?"

"She's not a fan of hospitals. Hale's picking me up."

"We'll wait with ya." she says sitting down, placing Abel's car-seat between them.

"I'm glad he's doing good. I think Jax is going to make a real good daddy."

"I'll make sure of that." she says.

"I've seen Clay's niece around. She still living with you."

"Yeah, when she doesn't spend the night at Mary's looking after Kenny and Ellie or at Jax' with Abel. She's a good kid, loves Clay and puts up with the club. I think a couple of the boys have a little crush on her."

Unser nods as she lights up a joint.

"It's for my heart condition." she says offering him a drag.

He smiles and accepts.

* * *

"I talked to Hale. He understands." Jax says talking quietly with Piney as he watches the club greet Opie with hugs and back slaps.

Piney nods.

"Hey... keeping this between us is the best thing."

"Clay tried to kill my son and got his wife by mistake. I'm depending on you to make that right, kid." Piney tells him.

"Look, you got to trust me, Piney. Fixing things doesn't happen quick or easy. Right now it's about protecting Ope." he says.

"I know. It's just hard."

"I understand."

"Do you? Do know how strange it is to allow his niece around my grandkids and actually like her?"

"Piney..."

Piney swallows roughly and leaves Jax standing there.

* * *

"I haven't been able to say this yet on a club level. We're all broken up about what happened to Donna. She was a great girl. I know how much you loved her. She sure loved you. I'm sorry." Clay says from his spot at the table.

"Thanks." Opie says nodding.

"Now we got to deal with the underbelly of this. Those bullets that killed her... they were meant for you. We gotta settle that."

"Has to be the Niners. Unser said it was a some gansta SUV. With a black guy driving."

"No one saw who was driving, Ope, no one. We're pretty sure the guy was not black." Tig tells him.

"He was brown." Clay states.

"Mayans? Are you sure?" Opie asks looking around the table at his brothers.

"Jax and Piney talked with Laroy. So we know it wasn't the Niners." Chibs tells him.

"That's right. As far as Laroy is concerned, the Niners and the SOA are good." Piney says.

"You believe him?" he asks.

"I know the truth when I hear it." Jax states not bothering to look at Clay.

"It has to be Alvarez. More than likely he thinks we set him up. We took his money, then we left him behind to get shredded by the Niners." Opie states.

"I had Trammel look into it. Black Range Rover got jacked outside a bar in Alameda that same night. It turns up two days later, a few miles down the road from the Mayan clubhouse in Heyward. Casings on the floor, same kind of gun that killed Donna." Clay says placing a piece a paper on the table.

"There was prints on the dash. Before the end of the day, we're gonna know who was driving." Tig states.

"I convinced Trammel that it was in his best interest to let us handle the arrest." Clay says.

"I'm the one who kills him." Opie says sue of himself.

"Alright. You, Tig and Chibs." Clay says pointing at each of them.

"And me." Jax says quickly.

"I want Jax." Opie says nodding.

Clay just nods his agreement.

Everyone gets up to leave but Jax stands and looks over the paper that Clay had placed on the table.

"Looks like Trammel earned his pay."

"You got something to say?" Clay says lighting up a cigar.

"This is bullshit. The only reason I don't set fire to it is 'cause I love Ope. And the truth would kill him."

"All of us love Ope."

"Is that why you have Bella looking after his kids." Jax snarks knowing even before the words out of his mouth that it's bullshit.

"She's doing that on her own. Seems she has a soft spot for his kids...yours too. Or are you forgetting how much time she spent helping your ma with Abel when Wendy up and left after the funeral. Opie needs this and we're gonna give it to him."

"Whoever you decide to put this murder on, just make sure they deserve to die. 'Cause the guy that killed Donna is out there sharing a beer with her husband." he says stalking towards the door and walks out.

* * *

Bella watches as Kenny chases after one of his classmates during recess.

"Miss Swan." another teacher comes over to her. "I'll take over your class. Someone is waiting for you in the office."

She nods and with a soft smile at her kids heads inside.

"Hey, I was told someone was waiting for me." she says to the intern behind the counter.

"Hello.. Miss Swan." someone says behind her. She turns and instantly narrows her eyes at the man in front of her. "I was wondering if we could have a chat?" Hale says.

"Make this quick, Hale." she tells him as he motions her into an empty office.

"Have a seat, don't worry this won't take long." he says sitting at the principal's desk.

"Than why didn't you wait until I was done for the day so not to disrupt the kids schedule." she snarls taking a seat. "Ask your question but we both know there's another reason why you are here."

"Oh really, why am I here?" he asks smirking.

She smirks at him, "You're not as smart as you pretend to be. I know that you know."

"I um.. I'm not sure to what you are referring too."

"Really? So you didn't go to Jax and let him know how Stahl framed Opie as a rat or that you think my uncle killed Donna?" she smiled when he paled. "Are you trying to play both sides or something?" Hale just stares at her in confusion as she stands and leans forward on the desk until she is nose to nose. "Stop trying to fuck with my family."

He watches as she straightens up and crosses her arms. "Well at least I know which side you are on." Hale snarks standing.

She scoffs softly, "I'm on the side that keeps people safe. Which one are you on?" she asks leaving the office.

* * *

"That's him." Opie says watching the guy that killed Donna restocking his dealers.

"Elian Perez. Out of Corcoran three months ago, manslaughter. Full menu of drug and assault charges."

"How do we want to do this?" Tig asks as he and Chibs pull up beside them in the van.

"Too many eyes here." Jax says looking around.

"He's on the move." Opie says setting out to follow him.

They flip his bike and chase after him.

Catching him when he runs down a dead end alley.

* * *

"Tell me you did it." Opie demands pulling the gag off the guys face.

Perez just looks at him in confusion.

"Tell me that you killed my wife." he snarls.

"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, man!"

"Tell me that you pulled up behind her and unloaded an entire fucking clip into the back of her head."

"No! I didn't kill your wife, man. You got the wrong guy!" he yells as Opie nearly goes for his throat.

"Ope!" Jax yells pulling him off the guy and away from the Mayan.

Tig motions for Chibs to go with them while he stands over the guy.

"What the hell you doing, man?" Jax demanded when they were out of sight of Tig and Perez.

"I have to be sure. No fucking mistakes." he nearly snarled.

"If this takes too much time there's a chance of being caught. Just do the guy."

"I gotta do this my way. If you need too, leave." Opie says turning to head back.

They hear a shot and run back to find the Mayan on the ground holding his face.

"What the fuck!" Chibs yells.

"Guy broke loose, reached for my gun and it went off. Sorry, Ope." Tig tells them slightly out of breath as if there had been a struggle.

"No doubt, Ope. This guy killed Donna." Jax tells him as Opie stands over Perez and finish the job. He holsters his gun before pulling out his knife. He rips open Perez's shirt to crave the SOA symbol on his chest.

"That's so Alvarez knows who and why." he mutters softly wiping his knife on the dead man's pants.

"Get rid of those guns. You guys take the van and head back. I'll dump the body." Jax says handing his gun to Chibs.

"You can't do this on your own, Jackie boy." Chibs says taking the gun.

"You guys need to be there when the Feds drop off Bobby."

It doesn't take much convincing for them to leave after that.

* * *

She pulls into the driveway of the kid's house.

"Bella." Mary says coming to the car as the kids get out.

"Hi...I'll see you two soon." she calls as the run inside. "He home?"

"Was here and left again...something to do with the club." Mary tells her.

"Maybe I'll see him at the party."

Mary looks at her a little confused.

"Bobby? Yeah Bobby comes back today. Kenny has a book report that's due on Monday, don't let him tell you different." she says with a grin as she puts the truck in reverse. Luckily she has enough time to head back to the house to change before she heads over to the clubhouse.

* * *

Jax shoots the carving that Opie made and rolls the guy up in a tarp.

* * *

Bobby's welcome back party is in full swing when she pulls into the lot. She is thankful that she went home to change, her jeans, low-heeled cuff boots, corset top and thin black hoodie fit better than her work clothes. Looking around she finds Gemma.

"Hey lady." she says grinning and giving her a hug. "How's little man?"

"Doing good, we just need to beef him up a little. Tara gave us a soy base formula to try."

"Oh you poor baby...Auntie Bell will find something to make that taste better." she says bending over the stroller to rub Abel's stomach. His hands reaches up for her necklace, the same one she wore to Donna's funeral.

"What's wrong?" Gemma asks noticing that she seems a little upset.

"Hale stopped by..again. I dealt with it, don't worry." she says straightening.

"Bella...you know it's possible that Hale is bugging you so much because he has a little thing for you." Gemma says with a grin.

She laughs, "Oh, I'm sure dad and Clay would just love me getting involved with a cop." she and Gemma exchange a grin.

"Go...have some fun." Gemma says pushing the stroller away slapping her behind as she passes. She laughs heading over to the bar. Luckily Juice is behind the counter and already has a drink ready for her.

Blowing him a kiss and a grin, she takes it and wonders around. Noticing Piney and Opie she heads over to them.

"You should go home. Be with your kids." she stands just far enough away to give them some privacy but still overhears him. "You know, I don't give a flying fuck how bad you feel. They lost her too not just you. You need to pull your sad little head out of your ass and go be a father. It's ain't your fault, and it sure as hell ain't theirs." Piney tells him before standing and walking away. She nods and places her hand on his arm as he passes her.

"Love you too, Pop." he mutters into his beer.

"Hey.." she says sitting down across from him.

He nods.

Biting her lip, "I couldn't help overhear...I've spent time with your kids..they miss you. I know you are dealing with things your own way but know you have people who care about you, that need you. Here." she hands him a slip of paper with her number on it. "If you need someone to talk to, please call."

He takes the slip and puts it into a pocket on his kutte. Shaking her head she stands and heads over to sit with Clay and Tig.

* * *

She's sitting on Tig's knee with his arm loosely around her waist, one of the safest spots at the party with so many charters around, laughing at something one of the guys is talking about when someone pulls into the lot.

"Garage is closed. Private party." Clay says loudly going over as a suit gets out of the car. She gets off Tig so that he can join him. She goes over to stand by Half-Sac, far enough away if there's trouble but close enough to hear what is going on.

"We're not here for, uh, car repairs. I understand you're a Camacho fan." the suit say holding out a box of cigars.

"Who are you?" Clay demands.

"Just dropping by to give you a little friendly advice." the grunt with the suit replied.

"And what advice would that be?" Clay asks completely uninterested.

"We feel that it would be best for all concerned that you stop dealing arms to the Niners and the Mayans."

Clay laughs in his face. "I have no idea what you're talking about. We're just mechanics and Harley lovers." Everyone around them start cheering in agreement.

"That's one of Darby's back there." Tig tells him.

"Mr. Darby happens to be one of our supporters." the suit tells them. She narrows her eyes at the men trying to place all of their faces.

"Expensive car. Hell of a suit. All your teeth. Must be the top of the Aryan food chain, huh?" Clay snarks. She covertly uses her phone to snap photos of the suit and all his grunts.

"I'm not here to adjust your moral compass. You're a criminal and you're done selling guns to color." Tig pulls out his gun. "Are you gonna shoot me, Mr. Trager? With all these witnesses?"

She feels everyone freeze on him calling out Tig by name when no one knows his. _Great... a connected fucker._

"I don't know what Darby told you and, uh, I don't know what your angle is... but let me be real clear. No one threatens SAMCRO. And no one tells us what we can and can't do. So, why don't you just climb back into your little German clown car and drive back to Nazi town? 'Cause the next time you piss all over my shoes, he will kill you. I don't give a fuck how many witnesses there are." Clay snarls a the man.

"My shop opens in a few weeks. Until then... enjoy." he says motioning to the box of cigars he placed on the ground.

She moves away from Half-Sac and heads over to her uncle. She stands with him and the others as they watch the suit leave in his fancy car.

"I want to know everything." Clay demands.

"You got it." Juice says.

"Here. I took photos of them." she says handing him her phone. He takes it and runs inside. "I want that back before I leave." she yells after him.

"Who the hell was that?" Gemma asks joining them.

"Friend of Darby's. Nothing to worry about." Clay says wrapping his arm around her waist. "What happened to the music? This is a party!"

"I need to get him home." Gemma tells Clay.

"Alright baby, see you at home." Clay gives her a kiss before she heads to her car.

She wraps her arms around her waist watching Gemma's tail lights disappearing out of the lot.

"This is a party beautiful. You owe me a dance." Chibs says placing his arm on her shoulders. With a laugh she allows herself to be steered to the makeshift dance area.

* * *

Jax lays out the body a block away from a Mayan hideout. He poses the body to make it look like a Niner hit.

* * *

Bobby pulls up to his party with Agent Stahl.

"Bobby!" the members of the club yell greeting him.

"Oh it's good to be home." Bobby says.

"Now before you go join the festivities I have someone that you need to meet." Clay says after hugging him. "Bells..come here."

She comes over to him.

"Bobby, I want you to meet my niece, Bella."

"Hi." she says laughing at Bobby's dumbstruck look. "Come on, this is for you." she says moving away from Clay to drag him to his party with a laugh.

She doesn't miss the look on the woman's face after Clay introduces her. She shivers slightly because it reminds her of a snake right before it attacks.

* * *

"Jax?" Gemma calls out as she is feeding Abel and hears the door open.

"Just me. Told Jax I would be stopping by, figured I could give you a break." Tara says coming into the room.

"You didn't need to do that." Gemma says burping Abel before placing him in his crib.

"I know. I wanted to." Tara says looking a Abel with a soft smile.

"You on the pill?" Tara looks at her in shock. "Just wondering. You got that look."

"The clock is running out look?"

"Maybe."

"Where are you on this, Gemma?"

"What do you care what I think about the two of you?"

"He cares." she scoffs.

"You really want my advice?" Tara nods. "Total disclosure."

"What do you mean?" Tara asks slightly confused.

"You're too smart. Too... too neurotic to live in the vague. He needs to tell you everything. No truth, no pussy. You need to draw the line." Gemma says collecting her bag.

"I'm not sure I want to know." Tara says honestly.

"Then get out now before the two get your hearts broken. You love the man... you learn to love the club. You can do that, there's no truth you can't handle. Good night." she says placing a kiss on Tara cheek before she leaves.

* * *

Gemma is stopped at a stoplight when a woman screeches up behind her in a minivan.

"Help, please! Oh, God, help me, please! My baby swallowed something! He's choking! Please help me!" a young woman screams coming to her car.

She quickly get out of the car and follows the young mom back to the van.

She reaches the van only to find a fake baby when everything goes black.

* * *

"Hey..." Jax says getting home to find Tara sitting on the couch.

"What happened to the party?"

"I went, saw Bobby. Convinced my little cousin that it was time for her to head home and came home myself." he tells her. "I'm gonna take a shower." he tells he as he strips his clothes as he heads to the bathroom.

She places her cup in the sink before starting to pick up his clothes. She falters when she finds that his gloves are soaked in blood.

She stands at the door of the bathroom as he gets out of the shower. "If I'm gonna stay, I need to know the truth." He looks at her confused. "I need all of it. It's the only way I'll know if I can do this." she says shakily.

"Alright. Today I helped Opie kill a man. Retaliation for Donna. Shot him in the head." he watches as she pales. "I'm going to bed." he brushes by her and head to the bedroom.

* * *

Gemma wakes up, with her hands cuffed over her to a cage.

Three masked figures approach her.

* * *

Opie stands at his bedroom door, staring at his sleeping kids. He goes into the room and sits in the rocking chair, his eyes never leaving his kids. He removes his kutte and a slip of paper falls out. He picks it up and actually looks at it.

**Opie~ I know that we don't know each other very well but if you need someone to talk to or someone to scream at about how this fucked up world is completely unfair. Just know that anytime even three in the morning** **I am here if needed.**

Her number was scrawled at the bottom. Pulling out his phone he dials.

"Hello..." she says softly.

"No longer at the party?"

"No, was starting to get a little much, Jax didn't have to do much convincing to get me to head out. Clay understood, I had already met Bobby but I doubt that's why you called."

"Why do you care?" he asks pulling his cap off his head to run his fingers through his hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you care about me and my kids?"

He hears her laugh softly. "I just do...what was the first thing you noticed about her?"

"What?" he was confused why she would ask him that.

"Tell me what was the fist thing that you noticed about Donna."

"Her..her laugh." he says hoarsely before hanging up. He feels the tears and closes his eyes.

* * *

Gemma yells at the masked men, kicking one in the groin, and face, and fighting as they rip off her pants.

* * *

She stares at her phone, she closes it.

_At least he called..its a step in the right direction._

She lays back down. _Why did she care?_

She laughs softly and opens her phone to look at the photo of her and Donna at the party.

_Because...she would not want you hurting like this._

* * *

One of the men raping her stops long enough to tell her to tell her husband to stop selling guns to minorities, or they'll find her and do it to her again.

She notices a red tattoo on one man's neck, before she passes out as he attacks her again.


	4. Chapter 4

_Ever have one of those days that seems longer than it should._

_This was one of those._

* * *

Gemma slowly puts on her clothes as she hears banging on the door.

"Gemma?! Anyone in there?" voices call out.

"Bella? Wayne?" she yells her voice hoarse from all the yelling. She hears a couple gun shots and the door swings open.

"Son of a bitch." Bella whispers.

"Get me out of here." she mutters. Bella and Wayne move over to her to help her stand. They put her into the cruiser. Bella rushes to her truck to follow as they head out.

"How did you find me?" she asks wrapping a blanket around her.

"A call over the radio. Described your car to a tee."

She scoffs, "Bella?"

"Not sure she got there moments after I did, look confused to see me and was scared when she noticed your car."

"Where are you going?" she asks.

"St. Thomas."

"No hospital."

"Than what Gemma?"

She holds out her hand. "Give me your phone."

* * *

She paces in Tara's living room as Tara cleans Gemma's wounds.

"He see you leave?" Gemma asks.

"Told him you were the hospital." Tara tells her. "I need to know what happened..."

"Use your imagination." Gemma says leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

She scoffs and sits down next to her aunt. Tara gets up and leaves the room.

"Bella, sweetie, how did you know to go there?" Wayne asks her.

"Got woken up to a phone call. Told me to find their message and that next time I would join. Gemma's phone was going straight to voice mail and I didn't think any of the club would be sober." _I'm also a danger magnet and was worried that it was a fucking Cullen or one of those red-eyed fuckers._

Gemma sits up straight. "It will be over my dead body that this happens to you."

"We need to get you to the hospital. I can't treat you in my living room." Tara says coming back into the room.

"I'd have to check in. Everyone would know."

"So we run to the house and get you come clothes. Then pick up Abel. Sign him in. Claim that we're running more tests." Tara says.

"You could lose your job."

Tara just shrugs.

"Small problem, Neeta starts today." she reminds them. "Why don't you two go to the house so Gemma can change and I'll go get Abel."

"Alright." Tara says getting ready to stand when Gemma grabs her arm.

"Promise that won't tell anyone."

"What?" Tara asks confused.

"Promise, no one."

Tara nods as Bella helps her stand.

"They're gonna notice her face." Tara tells Unser.

He nods and wait for them to leave before he heads out.

* * *

"Clay?" Tig says kicking the bed and holding out the phone.

"What? Get out!" he mumbles into the pillow.

"It's Alvarez." Tig says.

Muttering under his breath, he rolls over and takes the phone out of his hand. "Yeah."

"Niners sent me a message. Gonna need guns. As many as you got."

"You sure it was them?" he asks sitting up.

"One of my guys with his guts hanging out and holding up nine fingers. Yeah, I'm sure."

"I wish I could help but this ATF bullshit has us tapped."

"You better be straight with me, _ese_."

"Straight as they come." he says hanging up. He closes the phone, standing and turns to Tig. "I thought Opie tagged that Mayan SOA?"

"He did. Carved it right on his stomach." Tig tells him.

He throws the phone at the wall, breathing deeply to calm down. "Than why did Alvarez just find the guy with his guts hanging out and holding up a nine."

"Jax, he dumped the body."

"Alright. Call Laroy. Let him know shits about to fly. He's gonna need guns."

* * *

"Jake, that call this morning...it was stuff about the club." She tells him over the speaker as she drives to Jax's house to collect Abel. "So call back whoever you sent cause I know you sent someone."

"Not happening until you tell me what is going on."

She pulls into the driveway. "If you need to know." she snarled. "Someone raped my aunt and left her there for me to find as a message to the club, okay? Happy now."

"Bella..."

"Don't. Just call them back." she says hanging up, wiping the angry tears out of her eyes before getting out of the car. She grabs her bag and heads to get Abel. "Shit!" she yells when her phone goes off causing her to drop everything. "Hello."

"Bella, it's Unser."

"What is it?"

"The story is that Gemma ran off the road and had an accident."

"Hopefully that will work." she mutters as he hangs up. Not even bothering to knock she goes into the house.

"Hello..." Neeta says.

"I need to get Abel to St. Thomas." she says brushing past her.

"Excuse me?"

"Gemma was in an accident." she says entering Abel's room. She grabs his diaper bag and takes him out of the crib.

"I don't know..."

"Look, Gemma is at St. Thomas and that's where the two of us are going. You are more than welcome to follow us." she says evenly as she stalks past her.

"I might just do that."

She just shakes her head and places him in his carrier and takes him out to her truck.

* * *

"Otto needs to talk to us about something." Clay tells Tig as they wait for Laroy to show up.

Tig whistles getting his attention when Laroy pulls up.

"Looks like your intel was right. Dead Mayan with our sign. Guess we have an agreement again." Laroy said as he joined them.

"Alright." he says and they shake hands.

"Gonna need at least two dozen AKs."

"Alright. Simple, though. No scopes or mods."

"Done. Gonna need them tonight."

"I'll give you a call with the location." Clay says as Laroy gets into his car.

Unser pulls up just as Laroy is pulling away.

"I thought we keep this shit out of town."

"Relax, Unser." Clay says sitting on his bike. "What?" he asks noticing his nervousness.

"There's a car out by the construction site. Gonna needs a tow."

"So call the garage." Tig scoffs.

"It's Gemma's caddy."

"What?!" Clay exclaims.

"Looks like she went of the road last night."

"She okay?" Tig asks as he and Clay start up the bikes.

"She's with Tara at St. Thomas."

"And you're only telling me this now?" he yells.

He watches as the two of them drive off.

* * *

"Bella!" Clay exclaims as he comes into the waiting room.

"Uncle Clay.." she says softly standing up Abel still in her arms.

"Do you know anything?" he asks.

"Tara's with her. All I know is that she had an accident on the way home from Jax's last night."

"Why didn't you call anyone?" Tig asks narrowing his eyes at her.

"I wanted to know something more than Gemma was in an accident before I called. Besides you know Gemma would be pissed that I made everyone worry over nothing." she says looking down at the little boy in her arms.

"Out of the way. Out of the way. Beep! Beep!" voices yell causing them to look at the open doorway as the rest of the boys appear pushing Bobby on a gurney.

"How's Gemma?" they all ask.

"Why don't I go find out." she says moving to go around the boys.

"I'll take him for you." Neeta says holding out her arms for Abel. She nods and hands the little boy over.

She starts heading down the hallway towards where she knows Tara is looking after Gemma.

"Hey..." Opie calls catching up to her. "For a little thing, you move fast."

She laughs for the first time today. "Hey."

"You okay?" he asks placing a hand on her arm and slowly walk down the hall together.

She shrugs, "Once I know Gemma is okay. I'll be okay. What about you?"

"Maybe I'll tell you at three am one of these nights." he says before heading back to the waiting room.

She bites her lip as she watches him walk away. _Okay Bells, naughty thoughts about the widower you are trying to help are not a good idea. Certainly not today._ She turns and see Jax and Tara coming towards her.

"Uncle Clay!" she yells down the hall. Clay and the rest of them come out of the waiting room and join her just as Jax and Tara reach her.

"How is she, Doc?" Clay asks.

Exchanging a look with Bella. "She hit her face against the steering wheel hard when she hit the barrier. There is a little swelling. I need to run a few more tests but she's fine."

"But, uh, she's going to be okay, right?"

She nods. All of them breathe a sigh a relief.

"Can I see her?" Clay asks.

"Not right not now. I'll let you know when you can."

"Thanks Doc. Take care of her."

"Always." she says before walking off.

Neeta heads back to the waiting room with Abel. She looks between Clay and Jax and knows that something is up.

"What happened now?" she asks them out of hearing distance of the rest of the club.

"Ask this one." Clay says glaring at Jax.

"What?"

"Alvarez wasn't happy to find one of his boys dead holding up nine fingers. Brown's a little pissed at black."

"I made a decision... for the club." Jax tells him.

Clay open his mouth to re-trout when Unser comes up on them.

"Figured I would find you here. Luann's studio just got raided by the Feds. Cleaned her out."

"Well now we know what Otto wanted to talk to us about." Clay mutters.

"Ope and I will go deal with Otto." Jax says as Ope straightens ready to follow.

"No, Ope goes with Tig. Take Bobby, he needs the fresh air." Clay tells him. Bobby is currently passed out on the gurney.

The boys go off to do what they need to do.

"You look dead on your feet." Clay says to her. "I'll stay, go get some sleep."

"I'll be back in an hour. I just need to take a shower and eat." she gives him a hug and heads home.

* * *

Jax goes to meet with Otto in prison. He has to wait a few minutes before he can join Otto at a table due to the guards pulling a couple of guys going after each other.

"Enjoy the show?" Otto asks when he is finally able to sit down.

"Always like good shows. White on white? Any idea what's up with that?" he asks.

"Seems our Aryan friends are getting particular about who they burn crosses with. That's not why I needed to see you though."

"I know. How can we help?"

"This punk wannabe producer is going after her talent. Being shut down, this asshole will hijack all of them."

"We'll talk to him."

"What she needs is time and money."

"We can give her time."

"And the money?"

"We're barely half healed, brother. We don't have it."

"I don't want her back in front of the camera, Jax... I told her she'd never have to do that again."

"That's a promise I'll make sure you can keep."

* * *

She pulls into a parking spot at the hospital. The shower had helped her feel a little more human. She grabbed her bag when her phone started ringing Jake's ringtone.

"Jake." she says her tone still has a slight bite to it but not as much as before.

"Not him, Bells." Angela said.

"Hey mommy, how are you doing?" she said rolling down her window so she could sit in the truck to talk.

"Well I have a pouting husband."

"Angela..."

"He's pouting because I just put him on a sex sabbatical until the baby gets here. He shouldn't have made you tell him about club business."

She laughs softly, "Am I doing the right thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Gemma made me and Tara promise not to tell any of the club about this. This is now two secrets that I am keeping that will destroy this club."

"Leah told us about..."

"I figured either her or Seth would, does my dad or..."

"None of them know. The pack thought it would be better to keep it in house so to speak. Jake called Embry back but if things get bad you need to let us know and he will be there that day."

"Angel..."

"This was a pack decesion. You are still pack and we will feel better knowing that someone can protect you, Miss Danger Magnet."

"At least it's humans." she tries to joke.

"Try to think of a good story to keep Embry around, please I'll sleep better knowing one of our boys are there with you."

"For you, always. Love you."

"Love you too."

She hangs up and leans her head back, taking a deep breath she collects her stuff and heads inside. She finds her uncle sitting in the hallway with Abel. She takes out her phone a snaps a quick photo.

"Bella." Tara says coming up behind her.

"How is she doing, honestly?" she asks queitly.

"She's strong but keeping it from all of them...Lying to Jax, Clay?"

"I know. I have a feeling she doesn't want them to know for a reason."

"Like what?"

She shakes her head.

"Doc?" Clay says coming over to them. Neeta not that far behind with Abel.

"You can see her. Come with me."

* * *

The ATF agents take Luann's stuff as she talks to a couple of her girls.

"Here's half. I'll give you the other half at the end of the week. Now promise me that you'll stay away from Georgie. Everyone that works for him end up strung out and turning tricks."

"We will." both the girls promise.

Jax and the boys come in as the girls are leaving.

"My god, they cleaned you way out." Jax says giving her a hug.

"That's some lovely ladies walking out that door." Chibs says enjoying the view of the girls walking away.

"They'll keep walking if I'm unable to come up with the rest of their money." Luann tells them.

"Otto said some guy is giving you major trouble?"

"Georgie Caruso. Shitbag's threatening my girls if they don't join his company."

"Can't you make some kind of temporary arrangement?"

"That's not how it works with this. Georgie's game is fear. Runs his girls like pimp's running pussy. If I was able to get back the money I loaned SAMCRO..."

"That's not going to happen today. Look, I told Otto that I'd back this guy off of you, and that's what I'm gonna do. Where's this guy's office?"

* * *

Opie helps Tig put the guns together for sale to the Niners.

"Ope you doing okay? You know, family and stuff."

"I guess." he says concentrating on putting the AKs together.

"I lost an old lady. Crashed my bike and she landed right in oncoming traffic."

"Fuck, I didn't know that. Your kids' mom?"

"I wish it had been that bitch. No, it was before I got patched. Really loved that one."

"Some nights I'm dreaming. I'm back in Chino. I wake up, I'm home. It takes me a minute to realize that I'm alone in bed."

"You're not alone, Ope."

"I know. Appreciate it."

"Ope, what going on with you and Bella?" he asks thinking about how she went to him at the party before anyone else and how much time she has been spending with the kids.

"She's being a friend. Told me I can call her to talk whenever."

Tig nods and they go back to putting the guns together.

* * *

"Lyla?" she says stopping short when she enters the waiting room on her way out and sees one of the mothers of her students with Luann. "Luann? What is going on?" she asks sitting down next to Lyla.

"Miss Swan?" Lyla says moving the towel away from her nose.

"Shit." she hisses seeing the bloody nose. "Head back."

"What...Hold on." Luann starts until she sees Jax. "I told you not to stir up trouble. Look at what that asshole did to her." she yells.

"Fuck."

"It's not broken." Bella tells him showing him.

"This was that fucker?" Jax demands.

"Who else?" Luann snarks. "You really put the fear of SAMCRO into him. Tell him." she says sarcaisticly to Lyla.

"He said to tell Luann that if the biker boys show up, he'll have the camera rolling while he jams his cock up your asses." Lyla says.

Jax turns to head out.

"JAX! Don't do anything!" Luann yells.

"Luann!" she yells.

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?!" Jax yells at her. "Get her patched up! Call the rest of your girls, tell them to lock themselves in!"

"Sorry." Luann whispers as Jax and Chibs walk away.

"Let's get you looked at." she tells Lyla since Luann is staring after Jax with fear in her eyes. "Luann?"

"I forgot for a minute...I forgot."

She stands and places a hand on Luann's shoulder. "Let's get Lyla taken care of so we can call the rest of your girls."

Luann nods in agreement.

* * *

Jax and the boys bust up Georgie mid-shoot, wielding shotguns and bats. They beat everything to hell, sparing the actors. Jax makes his point to Georgie.

* * *

"There's a ton of guys like this asshat out there. If Luann can't pay her talent... That's why she wants the money." Jax says at Chapel. "Obviously that not going to happen but we can offer her something better: a partner."

"What is going through that head of yours?" Clay asks.

"The empty warehouse we just built. It's the same size as Caruso films."

"What? All of a sudden you want to be Larry Flint?"

"Caruso's just an asshat with muscle and a lease, right? The staff and talent does all the work. We already have staff and talent: Luann."

"So we're the asshats with the lease and muscle?" Booby says.

"Why not? We give her protection, a space, front her a little cash for all the shit that the feds took and split the profits."

"I can upgrade her internet. There's plenty of room for servers in that space. And that's where the real cash is." Juice adds.

"And I was blessed with an excellent eye for casting." Chibs jeers.

"Clubs get into trouble when they take on too much at once."

"We could use the extra income. It's a legitimate business. We run it clean, feds think we turned over a new leaf, they go away." Jax tells him.

"Thoughts?"

"Everybody loves pussy." Chibs says.

"I second." Opie says.

"Third it." Juice speaks up.

"All in favor? Like I gotta ask." Clay says tryin to rub away the headache that was forming.

"Pussy!" all of them cry out.

"All right, looks like we're in the porn buisness. We got a delivery to make."

"I'll call Luann and let her know she's got a new partner."

"Jackie Boy, you might want to have someone else do that call." Chibs says, looking out the doorway as the others are still getting up to leave.

He looks at him in confusion until Bella bursts through the door mad as hell.

"Jackson! You want to fuckin' explain what the hell was going on at the hospital. It took me forever to get her to calm down." she all but yells at him.

"We'll give you two some privacy." nearly all of the club says leaving the room quickly and closing the door.

"What do you want me to say?" he says sitting down.

"Jax, you treated her like she was a.. She's family and you treated her as if she was nothing but dirt on the bottom of your shoe."

"What I'm about to offer her will make up for it."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah."

"Alright but I'm going with you to make sure."

"Bella..."

"Don't argue you know that I'll win."

"Are you sure that it's Clay you're related to and not my mom." he laughs as he follows her out, getting out his phone to call Luann.

"You up to riding?" he asks when they get outside.

She nods and bites her lip to hide her smirk. _Now what would Tara think about you offering to have something powerful between another girl's legs?_

"Out with it." he says holding out a helmet.

"Just thinking a smart mouth remark, don't worry about it." she says taking the helmet and getting on behind him.

"Whatever you say, Bells." he says with a smile and starts up the bike.

* * *

Luann gets to the warehouse only to find it empty and the lights out.

"Anyone here?" she yells as she walks slowly into the warehouse. She screams when someone she cant see appears in front of her.

"You okay?" Jax asks as he comes in.

"I'm sorry. It's okay. I didn't mean to be such a pain in the ass, Jax." she stars begging backing away from him.

"Told you." Bella says flipping on the light. "Luann, relax. He's not here to hurt you. What do you think of your new studio?"

"New studio? What are you going on about?" she asks looking around the large space.

"You're not gonna be able to compete without protection and investors. SAMCRO is gonna help you get back on your feet." Jax tells her.

"What's the split?"

"Fifty-fifty and our debt goes away." Jax tells her.

"What if I say no?"

"It's the only option, Luann." she says walking over and wrapping her arm around her waist and leaning against her.

"Life was so much easier when I was just sucking dick. Thank you." she says softly.

Jax goes to her other side and hugs her.

* * *

Clay and the rest of the boys meet with the Niners for their gun transaction.

They have just finished the deal when suddenly there's a hail of bullets. Bobby gets hit in the shoulder. Tig quickly moves him to cover while the rest of them scatter to hiding.

It's the Mayans. They roll up to steal the guns.

"They're stealing our guns!" Laroy yells.

"Let them have 'em. We got more but I need to protect my boys!" Clay yells at him.

Opie suddenly gets out of cover and walks straight into the fire, shooting at least two Mayans as they drive off.

* * *

She and Jax walk into the clubhouse to find Tara working on Bobby.

"What the hell?" he asks.

"The Mayans crashed our delivery, man." Chibs says. Jax heads over to Bobby while she goes after Gemma when she sees her go down the hallway.

"Gemma?" she says softly coming up behind her.

"I just need to be alone." she says walking stiffly away from her.

"If you need me..."

Gemma nods as she turns the corner. She wraps her arms around her waist and heads back to where the other are. She sits down at the bar, watching as Tara finishes stiching up Bobby. She watches when Jax stalks out of chapel, ignoring everyone.

* * *

Jax finds his mom on the roof. They sit together and take in the city.

* * *

She's slipping on a pair of yoga pants when her phone starts going off.

"Hello." she says hoarsely. In the quiet of the house she had broken down in the shower so Gemma wouldn't her hear crying.

"Bella." Opie says.

She sits on the bed. "I'm here."

"I didn't care..during the shoot out with the Mayans. I didn't care if I lived or died. I can't even go home, the thought of seeing my kids knowing that I didn't care..."

She can hear the tears in his voice. "You wanted them to pay, right? If they took you out at least you took some with you?"

"Yeah."

"But now that the high has waned, it clicked in that you would have made your kids orphans."

"Fuck..what was I..."

"Stop. That is normal. You're healing Ope, the only way you know how..."

"Not so sure as you..." she hears him mutter before he hangs up.

Closing the phone, she rests her head on her knees. She flips it open and starts a text, knowing he wont answer.

**I know that you don't have a death wish. You wouldn't do that to Ellie or Kenny. You didn't care cause at that moment all you saw where people responsible for Donna not being in this world. No matter what time of day or night, you have people that care about you and are here for you. You do not have to do this alone.**

She hits send and lies back, placing her phone on the end table.

A few moments later her phone tells her that she has a message.

**I know**


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sandbox belongs to Kurt Sutter & SM I'm just having fun with their creations

**3 Weeks Later**

Bella sits with Kenny at his desk, helping him finish his math homework during recess. "You know this should have been done last night." she tells him.

"I know Bel...Miss Swan but Grandma..." Kenny breaks off, looking down and a little guilty.

"But what?"

"I couldn't figure these out and when I asked Grandma for help she told me just to wait until you could help me."

"What about your dad?" she asks confused cause she thought he was home at nights. _At least that's where I thought he was during our calls._

"He wasn't home. He's not home a lot.." he says roughly. She doesn't mention that she sees him crying, just sits next to him and lets him get it out before the class comes in from outside.

* * *

Jax writes some notes in his journal while Tara faces away from him reading something. "What are you reading?" he asks placing his journal down and laying next to her. She turns the book to him, _The Jungle._

" _The Jungle_?"

"You've read it?" she asks slightly surprised.

"Debated becoming a vegan afterwards." he says dropping an arm on her waist to take the book out of her hand. "Give me a kiss."

She looks around the open, empty field. "Here?"

"Just us." he says sliding his hand up her front to undo her top while kissing her. His phone chooses that moment to start ringing.

"Don't answer." she says breathlessly.

"Need to." he says reluctantly moving away from her. "This better be good."

"You need to get to the warehouse, Jackie Boy." Chibs tells him.

"Why? What's going on?" he asks standing, adjusting himself.

"Luann is freaking out. Seems Clay sent Bobby over to look after the books."

"He did what?! Shit! What time is it? Call Bella, she might be done for the day if she is tell her to head over. Surprisingly, Luann calms down when she's around."

"Can do." Chibs says before hanging up.

"Luann likes Bella?" Tara asks, a little shocked, picking up the blanket she was on. "I though Luann only liked her girls and your mom."

"Says she reminds her of a young Gemma and even knowing what they do she treats her girls with respect, like they're not porn stars, when they pick their kids up from school."

She nods and helps him load up the bike. "Are you sure she's related to Clay?"

He bursts out laughing, "I asked her the same damn thing."

* * *

They arrive at the warehouse just as Bella is getting out of her truck.

"I'll wait out here." Tara tells him as he gets off the bike.

"Okay what's going on?" Bella asked coming over to them still in her school clothes.

"Seems your dear uncle sent Bobby up here to do the books." Jax tells her as they head inside.

"Dammit." she mutters under her breath.

"This is bullshit, Jax." Luann says coming up to them.

"I'm just here to deal with the books." Bobby yells.

"Luann, it's a good idea to let Booby worry about the books." she says softly trying to calm her down a little.

"Was this your idea?" she asks glaring at him ignoring that she had spoken.

"The club decided..."

"Oh I do not need this. I have a shoot to finish..."

"Luann...with Bobby worrying about the admin bull you can concentrate on everything else." he tells her.

She turns to the door when she hears it open and notices the girl that just came in go from happy go lucky to looking upset in an instant.

"Ima! Where the hell have you been? This is your shoot!" Luann yells at the girl.

"I'm sorry. I had to go the long way. I think I'm being followed." _Oh give me a fucking break..._

"Ima..." Luann starts.

"I'm serious. I think Georgie had some guy try to run me off the road." Ima said about to put on the water works.

"Relax, we took care of Georgie." Jax tells her before heading over to talk to Bobby.

"He's after me. I know he is, Luann. I want Jax to protect me. You know what happens when I get stressed."

_You turn into Alice Cullen throwing a fit for not getting her way._

She rolled her eyes when she noticed Luann go over to Jax. She heads out since clearly she wasn't needed and walks into a shit storm.

Clay and Gemma are screaming at each other.

"Fuck." she mutters going back inside to get Jax.

"Jax..." Tara yells coming in behind her. She moves out of the way since Tara is running.

"He's a little busy, why don't you go back a wait outside like a good girl." Ima says standing.

Jax quickly gets between them and steers Tara to leave.

She grabs Ima when she goes to sit back down. "Only warning. Jax is off limits."

"Ima, lets go." Luann yells. Ima smirks before walking off.

She heads outside only to catch the end of the show.

Gemma is in tears with Tara comforting her.

Ignoring the boys, she heads right for Gemma. "Come on, I'll give you a ride back to the lot." she says softly. At Gemma's nod, she helps her to her truck. "You need a ride?" she asks Tara.

"No, I'll ride with Jax."

She nods and gets into the truck.

"I don't want to talk about it." Gemma says after they have left.

"Okay." she says reaching into her purse and pulls out a tin. "Here." she says giving it to her.

"What's this?" Gemma asks opening the tin to find four rolled joints.

"Black special. From La Push." she says grabbing her lighter and handing it over. "Trust me."

Gemma takes the lighter and takes one of the joints to light up. "Damn." she says softly after a few puffs.

Bella just smiles. "Not much but at least it will help you relax."

"We're going to need more...a lot more." Gemma says with a laugh.

* * *

"This sucks ass." Half-Sac mutters as he and Opie start to hook up the vehicle to the tow.

"Hey, it's their own damn fault for missing payments." Opie says looking around. "Son of a bitch." he says grabbing his kutte out of the tow and throwing Sac his.

"What's going on?" Sac says slipping his kutte on.

"Fucker is dealing." he says grabbing a hammer and handing Sac a crowbar.

"I think that's one of Darby's guys." Sac says as they head over to talk to the dealer.

"You boys have a need?" the dealer asks.

"Take your shit and get the fuck out of here. Charming is off limits." Opie growls at him.

"Not to me." the dealer says smirking and nods his head at his 'bodyguards'.

Seeing the Aryans, they walk away...for now.

"We need backup." Sam mutters when the get back to the tow.

Opie nods and they finish up the repo and head back to the lot.

* * *

She is standing in her room in just her underwear, trying to figure out what to throw on that would work for now and the wrap party at the warehouse when her phone starts ringing. She throws the clothes that she was debating between on the bed so that she can answer.

"Miss Bella is now in session, how can I be of service?" she says with a grin.

Opie laughs softly. "You know that sounds bad, right?"

"Yeah but if it makes you smile how bad can it be." Over the past month their conversations had slowly become a little flirty. She knew he still missed Donna and she had no plans on changing their friendship.

"Good point..." he says sighing.

"What's wrong, Ope?" she can hear that something is up in his voice.

"Sac and I were doing a repo and I saw this fucknut dealing."

"Is he nuts?! No one deals in Charming."

"I know, so we went to go rectify the situation only..."

"Only what?"

"He had guard dogs...More than two could handle."

"And you wanted to go after them?"

"Part of me did."

"Ope..."

"I know. This club is all I have."

"Wrong. You have Kenny, Ellie... You have more than you know."

"Bella...fuck...gotta go." he said before hanging up.

She falls back on the bed, unsure what to do.

* * *

Opie hangs up his cell and joins the others. Trying to ignore how much he would rather be on the phone with Bella.

"Zobelle is fucking squeaky clean. He owns cigars shops, a deacon at his church, widower with one kid." Juice is telling everyone with a file spread out on the table.

"However the last place the League was at within six months War Boys MC crumbled. All of the crew went away for assault." Jax says opening another file to show.

"They run guns." Clay says taking the file.

"They did." Jax says.

"Why would Zobelle care about guns?" Juice asks.

"They are prepping for the great race war." Tig says speaking up.

"Zobelle came at us hard. No fear." Jax says.

"So, what? We own the law in Charming." Clay tells them.

"Unser, not Hale." Jax says.

"We would already have him in out pocket if he could be bought."

"Maybe we should have Bella talk to him. He's got a thing for her." Juice says not noticing that he, Jax and Clay all narrowed their eyes at him.

"Excuse me." he growled. "What do you mean Hale's got a thing for her?"

Juice laughs nervously seeing that the three of them are slightly pissed.

"He umm he ummm. It just seems like he goes out of his way to bump into her."

"You know what, let's stick to the devil we know. Darby's shops are all closed up, maybe he went mobile." Clay says.

"That dealer at the mill had Aryans watching over him." he said.

Tig smirked.

"Just find the meth labs, alright? Any way you need to." Clay says bring the meeting to an end just as Gemma, looking more relaxed than she had earlier, comes out of the office.

"Miss double penetration called, she's ready for you." she says before going back in.

"I'll be right back. Gotta give her a safe ride." Jax says picking up the file and turning to head out.

"Work is never done, huh?" Clay snarks.

"You know a head's up about Bobby would have been nice. Me or Bella could have gotten Luann ready instead of just springing it on her."

Clay just rolls his eyes as Jax walks out.

* * *

"Hey." Jax says joining Bobby in the office at the warehouse.

"You know I thought this was going to be easy but..." Bobby just blows out some air. "These accounts are a mess."

"Guess her assets lie in other areas." Jax tries to joke lighting up one of the joints that Bella had shared with him the other day, Black special.

"You okay with all this?" Bobby asks taking the joint when Jax offers it to him. "Damn, where you get this shit?" he asks and takes another puff.

"It's all good, man. Thank Bella. She gets it from a friend in her hometown. Dude grows it himself."

"Think she can get more." Bobby asks with a laugh.

"Who knows." he says honestly.

"Hey, the guys are getting worried. What's going on with you and Clay?"

"Just father-son shit, you know. We'll work it out." Jax says as Ima appears in the doorway.

"I'm ready." she says trying to look cute.

He rolls his eyes at Bobby and steers her out of the warehouse.

* * *

Juice goes to the meth dealer Opie found earlier.

"You got a forty bag?" Juice asks acting like a junkie.

"Yeah man. Hey relax." the dealer says when Juice starts looking around.

"My foreman sees, I'm screwed, man. Let's go over here." he says motioning over to an area out of view of the dealer's bodyguards.

Tig and Opie grab him the instant he is out of sight. Opie makes sure to cover his mouth so he can't scream for help.

"Where's Darby cooking the crank?" he demands.

The dealer refuses to tell them anything.

"Let's see what his balls are made out of, glass or steel?" Tig says changing positions with Juice so he is standing over the dealer and steps down on his balls.

Less than a minute of him starting the dealer starts shaking his head.

"You go something to say." Opie snarls.

"Charming. Water Road, out by the streams. Shitty red house." the dealer tells them.

* * *

Bella pulls in behind Jax and narrows eyes Ima on Jax's bike before heading into the office to find Tara at the window.

"Son of a bitch." Tara says getting caught.

"That wants your man." she tells her, leaning against the wall.

"I trust him." Tara says as Gemma joins them.

"It's not him you worry about. They think he's available. You gotta educate. Set the little cumsucker straight. The others see it, everyone knows." Gemma tells her looking out the window.

"My catfighting days are over, Gemma."

Gemma just smirks and hands her something. "My pee."

"Thanks." Tara says taking it and leaving.

"Don't you look pretty." Gemma says to her, looking at the high heels, skin tight jeans, black halter top and numerous necklaces.

"Wanted something that will work for now and the party."

"Party?" Gemma asks sitting down.

"The wrap party. Luann invited me. Might go just to protect Tara's property." she says with a grin as she sits down.

"You would beat a girl..for Tara?" Gemma asks shocked.

"Even if she don't see it, Tara is his old lady and she deserves respect. I have nothing against anyone doing what needs to be done to get by but chicks like Ima..."

"Ya I know." Gemma says. "But you do know that those girls are going to be confused if you educate instead of Tara."

"Why should Tara stoop herself to the level of that when she is an old lady?"

Gemma just smiles, knowingly.

* * *

"Dealer said Darby's cooking in Charming down by the streams." Opie says cracking his knuckles at church.

"Only a few houses on that road." Jax says.

"So we find the right one, clear it our and burn it down." Clay says causing some of the others to nod in agreement.

"Blowing up shit in our backyard. Clay, that's exposure." Jax says in slight surprise.

"You see another way?" Clay asks.

"Why don't we just tell Unser? Let the cops actually do their job for once." Jax says.

Clay thinks about it for a moment. "Okay, we let the cops handle it but not Unser. We tell Hale. If he buries iti then we know he's on Zobelle's payroll."

"Okay but I'm telling you, he's not working for white power."

"So he'll shut down the shop."

"If not we will." Tig chimes in.

"All in favor?"

They all agree.

* * *

Jax delivers the news to Hale, who's suspicious. But he says he'll check it out.

Meanwhile, Clay tells Unser about the dealing.

* * *

Hale chooses to bury it.

* * *

Jax and the boys sneak up on the meth house later that night.

They shoot through the windows and let the people inside run out.

They run in to check and pronounce it to be clear.

Opie sets the trigger himself, while the rest of the guys run for cover, and barely makes it out of the house alive.

* * *

Bella gets to the warehouse and is ignored by Ima, who is sitting watching the door.

She heads over to where Chibs and Juice are sitting and grabs a beer out of Juice's hand before walking around taking everything in.

Jax sits down next to Opie and hands him a beer.

"Thanks." Opie says watching Bella walk around and talking to some of the girls like they are old friends.

"So... Heard you went a little crazy at that Mayan thing a few weeks ago and now this thing today with the explosives..." Jax says to him.

"Just throwing myself into the club. Don't worry, I'm talking to someone about things." he says staring at Bella, who is dancing with one of the girls.

"You got kids, Ope. Don't throw yourself too far." Jax says seeing his eyes on his cousin.

"This is a closed party." Ima says to Tara when she walks in.

Bella watches as Ima gets in Tara's face. They are talking so quietly that she can't hear a word that is being said over the music.

Jax sees them square off and gets up to go diffuse the situation about to start.

Tara backs down and walks off with Jax not that far behind.

She grabs a cup of something off a nearby table and heads over to where Ima is standing with a couple of the girls.

"You got a problem." Ima asks glaring at her.

She just smirks and throws the drink in her face. When Ima looks down to wipe the beer out of her face, she attacks.

"Oh shit!" Opie says getting out of his chair and rushing over. Chibs, Tig and Juice not that far behind.

It takes all of them to pull her off of Ima, who is covered with scratches, a bloody nose and blood while Bella doesn't even have one mark on her.

"What the hell is going on here?"Luann asks checking the damage that has done to Ima.

"Just giving a whore a little lesson." she says breathing hard. Opie still has his arms wrapped around her waist just in case.

"What?" Luann asks confused.

"Tara might not attack your ass but you, or anyone else, ever think about touching a man that isn't yours again and your next starring role will be a snuff film." Tig smirks at the seriousness of her tone and sees the Clay in her eyes. Ima screws up and he'll help.

Ima pales as understanding comes over her.

"Come on, I think it's time for you to go." Opie says his mouth right next to her ear as he pulls her out of the party.

* * *

Jax finds Tara in the bathroom. She asserts her place by ripping his clothes off right there.

Ima walks in to clean herself up after the damage that had been done, only to see Jax and Tara doing the dirty.

Tara sees her and smirks.

* * *

Opie pulls in behind her when she gets to the house. "I thought I was suppose to be the hot head." he says with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes as she turns to face him. She just shrugs her shoulders and smirks.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asks.

"My sister, Leah. What I lack in height I make up for in sheer determination not to have my ass handed to me." she says with a grin.

"Okay. Well I made sure you got home safe. Night." he tells her and before either can react he drops a kiss on her mouth.

"Ope..." she whispers softly.

"I don't know why I did that. I need to go." he says rushing away from her.

She wraps her arms around her waist as she watches him drive away.


	6. Chapter 6

_Opie pulls in behind her when she gets to the house. "I thought I was suppose to be the hot head." he says with a smirk._

_She rolls her eyes as she turns to face him. She just shrugs her shoulders and smirks._

_"Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asks._

_"My sister, Leah. What I lack in height I make up for in sheer determination not to have my ass handed to me." she says with a grin._

_"Okay. Well I made sure you got home safe. Night." he tells her and before either can react he drops a kiss on her mouth._

_"Ope..." she whispers softly._

_"I don't know why I did that. I need to go." he says rushing away from her._

_She wraps her arms around her waist as she watches him drive away._

* * *

She finishes getting dressed, thankful to have the next few days off. She was upset that Opie hadn't called her or even sent a text.

"Probably kicking himself for having a moment of weakness." she mutters coming out of her bedroom.

Heading to the kitchen she passes Gemma helping Clay with shots in his hands.

"Everything okay?" she asks looking into the bathroom.

"Yeah, you have big plans for your day off?" Gemma asks.

"Nay, gonna run some errands." she says with a smile, leaving the two of them alone.

* * *

Jax is almost done getting ready when Tara comes in.

"So a blood drive." she says with a smile.

"Yeah." he says with a smile.

She comes over and they start to kiss.

"Hey, Jax! Tara!" Bella yells as she enters the house just as Abel starts to cry.

"My family. Cock-blocking at all ages." Jax says with a laugh. "I got him. In the bedroom!" he yells as he goes to get Abel.

"Hey." Bella says standing in the doorway as Tara sits down on the bed.

"So I heard through the grapevine that I have you thank for beating down porn girl." she says with a smirk.

She just stands there with a slow smile on her face and nods.

"Hey cuz." Jax says giving her a kiss on the cheek. She just smiles and takes Abel out of his hands and shares a smile with Tara.

"What?" he asks looking at each of them.

"I'm your old lady," Tara says with a soft smile.

Jax smiles at his girl and all of them laugh softly. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see if I could steal my favorite guy while I run some errands." she says.

"He loves spending time with you. I'll let Neeta know to not to come until later."

* * *

Jax pulls into the lot, he's a little surprised to find Opie already there.

"Hey brother. Didn't know you were joining us."

"Clay asked, I agreed." Opie says not looking at him.

"Mary watching the kids?" Jax asks.

"My kids are just fine." he growls.

"No problem man. I was just asking cause Bella has Abel with her today. I know they like spending time with her."

Luckily, he gets out of answering when Bobby's bike starts smoking as he comes out of the garage.

"I thought you put that thing out to pasture." Jax jokes.

"This fat boy still has plenty of miles left on it. Best bike for a long ride. And I put it up against any of your pretty Dynas." Bobby tells him.

"Oh, man. I gotta ride behind that thing?" Half-Sax starts moaning.

"You should be used to getting sprayed in the face." Chibs jokes.

"Eat me." Sac re-trouts.

"The thing is, I like a full scrote when I snack on someone." Chibs replies.

"Is that right? Well, soon you can have at it." Sac says a little embarrassed.

"You gonna spontaneously sprout a nut?" Tig snarks.

"Getting a Neuticle. A fake ball. It's an implant. Give me a sense of symmetry."

"Are you serious?" Jax says trying not to burst out laughing.

"Just waiting for the insurance to clear."

All of them are no longer able to keep it in a bust out laughing.

Clay pulls in front of them. "What?"

"Trust me you don't want to know." Bobby tells him.

"Thanks for looking after the garage." Clay tells Piney when he comes over to him.

"No problem."

"Tell the boys they can log some OT. I don't want to get buried." Clay says watching as Gemma heads into the office.

"I'll keep an eye on her. I know she's been..." Piney starts.

"Bella has her." he says.

Piney just nods.

* * *

The boys break off from the rest of the club and wind their way to a military surplus store, run by Cameron and Edmund Hayes and collect the guns for the run.

* * *

She is heading to the garage after dropping Abel off with Neeta when she sees Gemma sitting in her car smoking on main street. She finds a parking spot and walks over to find Unser talking with her.

"What's going on?" she asks joining them.

Unser hands her a bag with a mask in it. She looks at them in confusion.

"That's what they were wearing." Gemma says stiffly.

"Oh, fuck." she whispers understanding coming over her. "Sherman's?"

"Zobelle." Unser says turning to look at the smoke shop.

_The fucking suit and his grunt._

"Look, I'm sorry about the gun." Gemma says turning on the car.

"Aunt Gem, let's head home." she says trying to calm her down.

"I got something I got to do, don't worry I'll be okay."

Unser holds out his hand before she can take off. "Want to give me the gun?"

Gemma places it in his hand and takes off.

"Shit." he says before walking off.

Wrapping her arms around her waist, she pulls out her phone and dials.

"What's going on?" Embry answers after the first ring.

"How soon can you get out here?" she asks watching as Unser stares at the smoke shop.

"Bells?"

"The ass that raped her made a move. Sent her the fucking mask they wore and now I know who the bastard that set it up is."

"Give me a few hours and I'll be on the road. Need to look as human as possible don't I." Embry tells her. "Don't worry little sister."

She smiles at the joke. She was a year older than him but since the wolf gene bulked all the boys out, all of them called her little sister. "I have a reason why you will be around..."

"What is it?" she can hear him running, which means he is heading to Jake's or Sam's. She knows that he can hear the worry in her voice.

"This guy doesn't look like some who would set up someone to be raped. He makes me nervous."

"Bella?" Jake asks coming onto the phone.

"I need Embry or whoever you want to send here. He had the mask sent to her, I think to mess with her head. God he's like a fucking Cullen but human." she tells them cause she knows if Jake is answering the rest of the pack is nearby.

"What do you mean?" she heard Quil yell in the background.

"You look at this guy and you would think he is fucking harmless. He is made of money, has a superiority complex and is a racist motherfucker." she tells them as she walks back to her truck and gets in.

"Swan, you want more of us to come?" Paul asks her. She smiles at hearing his voice.

"Just one of you, I think. I think I will feel better knowing that someone is around that can keep my other family safe." she says staring up the truck.

"I'm leaving now. Head to your uncle's house?" Embry asks.

"Yeah."

"We love you, little sister. Stay safe." Leah and Seth yell, which is echoed by the others as they hang up.

* * *

They're sitting at a gas station when Clay's phone starts ringing. They all watch as he answers and walks off.

"What?..." Clay slowly starts yelling at whoever is on the other end. "Where the hell were you?! No...you stay there. Done enough fucking damage." Clay yells before hanging up.

"What's up?" Jax asks when Clay rejoins them.

"Tig just got picked up by bounty hunters."

"What the fuck for?" Chips asks.

"They didn't stop to tell 'em. Sac is trailing them."

"How the hell does that happen?" Chibs asks.

"The hospital. Bounty hunters pay for them to call in names." Opie remarks.

"If TIg had a warrant out for his ass, I would know about it." Clay snarks.

"It could be out of state..." Opie states.

"We need to go after him." Jax states.

"We need to do this delivery." Clay says getting on his bike and starts to head out but his bike stalls and falls over.

He lays his bike over and can't right it. He walks off the indignity. He sits away from the others his hands bugging him.

Opie joins him.

"Some days...Some days I can't even get my dick out of my pants." he tries to joke.

Opie just smirks.

Clay looks at him, guilt settling inside. "You doing okay? Your family?"

"Some days are good. Some days suck. Being on the road helps."

"Amen, brother. My niece one of the reasons for those good days?" he has noticed the way they look at each other and part of him feels good about them getting together. He hopes that Opie is able to figure out that there is life after the lost of a loved one.

He just smiles "We got to go get Tig." he says trying to change the subject. "This thing between you and Jax... I don't know what it is, but it's pulling focus from what we are. I'm with you either way." he says standing up and going back to join the others.

"Let's go get Tig." Clay says joining them less than a minute later.

* * *

Instead of heading to the garage, she heads to the house. She turns on her music and strips down to her underwear, grabbing an oversize shirt she puts it on.

Laying down on her bed, she lights up a joint and thinks about how the hell she is going to keep from killing the suit or his grunt if she bumps into them in the street.

_Hopefully, Bry will bring some Black special with him cause we are going to fucking need it hardcore._

* * *

Half-Sack lets them know that the bounty hunters have stopped for the moment in a hotel after beating up Tig on the side of the road.

Clay wants to wait until after sundown to grab Tig, because they'd be able to get more manpower.

Jax wants to get Tig right away because who knows if he's still going to be there later.

Bobby breaks up the ensuing scuffle, and Piney arrives with a truck.

Jax and Clay walk away from each other while Bobby give Piney the lowdown of what's going on.

With a smirk, Piney get in the truck and yells for Jax. Sac, Chibs and Happy join them.

Piney, Jax, Half-Sack, Chibs and Happy go to the motel to rescue Tig. The flatbed of the truck crashes into the motel room where Tig is being kept, and he makes his escape.

* * *

Jax and the guys regroup with the rest of the bunch.

Tig lets Clay know that Jax was right to come when he did, the bounty hunters would have been in Oregon by the end of the day.

The rest of the guys make the gun meet with the other charter who will complete the relay.

* * *

At the bike rally, everyone parties and hangs out. Jax grabs a bottle and wanders off.

"You roll a pathetic joint." Opie jokes as Bobby tries to roll a joint in front of him.

"You know when we get back we gotta lock Jax and Clay in a room. They need to work this shit out." Bobby says lighting up the joint and watching Jax walking away.

"Either they'll kill each other or finally get over it." Opie says standing up and walking away.

* * *

Clay finds him alone.

They just sit there and share a drink, neither one able to voice whats going through their heads.

"We're family kid." Clay says. "We need to figure this shit out."

Jax just nods and walks off.

* * *

Opie finds a seat away from the others, opening and closing his phone. Opening it, he takes a deep breath and dials a number that he now knows by heart.

"Hi..wasn't sure if you would call..." Bella says softly.

"Neither was I..last night." _How the fuck do I apologize for something that I want to do again._

"It's okay."

"I'm sorry, Bella. I don't know.."

"Harry..it's okay. I'm not upset."

He loses his breath at the sound of his name on her lips. "Say it again." he says hoarsely.

She laughs breathlessly, "Harry."

"Are we okay?" he asks.

"Yeah we are."

He smiles as he hangs up the phone.

"I am so fucked." he says laughing.


	7. Chapter 7

Tara is watching Jax out in the shed when she hears someone behind her.

"Mornin'." Gemma says winching as she sits down.

"Morning." she says debating bringing the winch she just saw up.

"Where's my boys?" Gemma asks watching as Tara pours her a cup of coffee.

"Abel is with Neeta at the park and Jax is finally cleaning the garage." she says with a smile handing her the cup. "Sore or dry?"

"Both, I feel like the Mojave vagina." Gemma says taking a sip of her coffee.

"You're not producing enough estrogen 'cause of stress. I'll write you a script." she says quickly as Jax comes in.

"Hey, did you take a box of clothes out of the garage?" he asks both of them.

"I haven't." she says.

"Bella and I did some cleaning after Abel came home. There was a box that had some serous stink to it."

"Where is it?"

"I tossed it. Was just some dirty laundry. Why? Looking for something?"

"Trying to find an old Harley manual, thought it was in there." he tells her.

"Sorry." Gemma says taking a sip of coffee.

He finishes getting ready and leaves with Chibs when he gets there.

* * *

Opie is working on a car when he hears a clunking come into the lot. He turns to see a Prius driving on a rim. He starts to head over when Bella's truck pulls onto the lot. He's a little annoyed to see that she's not alone. Some guy gets out of the truck after her.

"Miss Bella." the kid in the car yells out when he notices her coming towards them.

"Hey Piper. Lyla." she says looking at the woman that just got out of the car.

"Bella, what are doing here?" he asks not taking his eyes off the guy with her. _Younger than him, maybe closer to Bella's age..who the hell is this guy?_

"Tell you in a minute. Seem to be a little busy." she says going over to him.

Lyla looks guilty as Bella moves close to Opie and places her hand on his arm.

"So what happened?" he asked Lyla.

"Blew or something." Lyla tells him.

"Why didn't you pull over and call?" the young guy with Bella asked.

Lyla just shakes her head.

"Piper, honey..go wait in the office. Lyla, did you forget that there is no school today?" Bella says moving away from him and going over to the girl.

"Oh, god. I was in such a rush to get him to school and me to the studio..." Lyla says trying to justify. Bella moves closer to her and whispers something to Lyla who nods, looking slightly guilty.

"Why don't we get you a ride to work and I'll bring Piper to the sitter you use." Bella offers moving back. Lyla nods.

"Hey Dog, can you get her to Luann's?" he calls to one of the guys. The guy agrees and Lyla goes with him after giving Bella the address of her sitter and gives him the car keys.

"So, what's up?" he asks when it's just him, Bella and the random guy that showed up with her.

"Bry, go wait in the office." she tells the guy, who nods and walks off. "Embry showed up early this morning. He's from La Push. Umm, he's been having some problems and Jake sent him out here to see if I can help..."

"What kind of problems?" he asked. _So someone from her hometown...just a friend or was he more?_

"He just found out that his best friend's dad was his dad as well." she says knowing that Embry can hear her. _He did find out that Quil's dad was his dad. Just a few years ago._

"Shit..."

"Yeah..his cunt of a mother let it slip out when he was trying to convince her to get some help for her drinking. Jake thought him coming out here and staying with me for a little while might help him make sense of all this. I was hoping that maybe there is something around here he can help with." she asks nibbling on her lower lip.

"He know anything about cars or bikes?" he asks surprisingly feeling a little better but still unsure about that the guy.

"He works for Jake." she tells him.

"That's right the old mechanic god." he says with a laugh.

She smiles and nods. "I would have asked Clay or Gemma but neither were home when he got there."

"I'll find stuff for him to do." he says.

She smiles and gives him a quick hug and soft kiss on the neck. "Thanks." she says letting go and turns to go to the office.

With a laugh, he knows already that for the rest of the day he is going to be trying to forget the feel of Bella's body against his. He gets in Lyla's car and notices the empty drug vials on the floor mixed in with the toys. Shaking his head at the the thought of one of Luann's girls driving with her kid in the car high as a kite. He looks back at Bella and it clicks in that she must of had an idea about it.

She enters the office and smiles as she watches Embry showing Piper how to make a paper crane. She turns when she hears bikes enter the lot.

"So what's the plan?" Embry asks coming over to her.

"Well, you are going to work here. You know about cars and bikes. Since you'll be here, you can listen in and watch over them..." she says watching as Jax and Chibs get off their bikes. "Come with me." she says leaving the office Piper and Embry following her. "Piper, go get in my truck, we'll go in a little bit."

"Hey beautiful." Chibs says as she gets to them at the same time as Opie.

"Hey." she says.

"Head into the garage, let's see what you know." Opie says to Embry. Embry nods and heads to the open bay.

"He lost?" Jax asks.

"Kinda. Ope will tell you. I'll see you later." she says giving all of them a hug before heading to her truck to get Piper to the sitter.

* * *

Opie and Jax watch as she drives off the lot.

"What's his name?" Jax asks turning to look at the guy.

"Embry...I think. Guess he's dealing with some shit from home and came out here for sanity. He knows Bella from her old hometown." Opie says also watching the kid got to work on the car Luann's girl just brought in.

"He came here for sanity." Chibs says laughing.

"Let's have a chat with 'em." Jax says heading towards the clubhouse.

"Embry! Come with us." Opie yells motioning for him to follow them to the clubhouse. They sit down at one of the tables as Juice cleans the bar, confusion on his face. Jax motions to him and he brings over a few beers.

"So you came to Bella for sanity?" Jax asks after Embry gives them the same story that Bella had given Opie.

"Of course. She's one of the only people in my life that knows where I came from and accepts me." Embry tells them Taking a sip of his beer.

"How long the two of you been...?" Opie asks annoyed.

"We're not like that. Never been like that. I've known her since I was sixteen. She's my little sis even though she's like a year older. She ever tell ya about Fuckward?" Embry asks.

"A little." Opie says.

"Maybe." Jax says.

"Nope." Chibs says.

Juice nods joining them.

"I met her about a month or so after the fucker left. She was a little screwed up do to the fact that him and his entire family just packed up and left in the night, not a word to her that they were going to be leaving. She and Jake had just started their attempt at dating when I met her."

"Jake?" Chibs asked.

"The ex-Mechanic God? I thought he was just a friend." Opie says shifting in his seat.

Embry smirks, "They are, now. Jacob Black had been in love with her since he was like four but figured out they made better friends. She actually introduced him to his wife, who was her other best friend."

Opie just nods.

"Black? He the one that grows?" Jax asks.

"Yeah, grows it for his dad. Who turns around and shares it with us." he says with a smirk. _Only weed that can effect them_ _enough to actual feel a buzz._ "Bells is our sanity. She doesn't care who our parents are or that we're not made of money. She's our sister even if a few of us have lusted after her at one time or another."

"Us?" Jax asks.

"Our friends in La Push. She calls us her pack and it fits." Jax and Opie nod remembering her telling them about her friends.

"So how many guys lusting after her are we talking about here?" Opie asks taking a long drag off his cigarette.

Embry laughs, "Dude, even the rez man-whore wasn't able to get in her pants. Hell, no one has been able to get in her pants, even though some have tried."

"Alright, correct me if I'm wrong does that mean that the lovely Bella is still a virgin." Chibs says in complete surprise.

"Yeah, I'm a dead man. She is going to murder me." Embry says laughing.

"You're scared of Bella?" Juice asks.

"Have you seen her fight? She might be small but damn she fights dirty." he tells them with a smirk, thinking of the fight that she had on First Beach with one of Paul's ex-buddies when she got annoyed that Paul dumped her.

Opie, Juice and Chibs smile remembering her beating Ima.

"Who's this?" Clay asks as he and Tig enter the clubhouse.

"New worker. Bella vouched for him. Breaks over, get to work." Jax says motioning for him to leave.

Embry quickly leaves. _Go figure he's a shifter but Bella's uncle scares him as bad as her dad. Weird that the human men in Bells life frighten him more than the supernatural ones._

"Let's go." Clay says and they follow.

* * *

Jax waits outside as Clay talks to Zobelle about 'protection'. Clay comes out and gives all but him a box of cigars.

* * *

Tara and Gemma leave the pharmacy after getting Gemma a prescription.

"Seems easy enough." Gemma says looking over the instructions.

"It is...Gemma?" she says looking at Gemma when she suddenly freezes. "GEMMA!" she yells when she starts running after some blond. "Gemma?" she places a hand on Gemma's arm when she catches up with her.

Gemma whirls around and cracks her in the nose.

"Shit!" Tara exclaims.

"Oh God...I'm sorry."

Blood is gushing out of her nose, "I think it's broken."

"Shit.." Gemma mutters and the two of them head back to her car to get to the hospital.

* * *

"What do you want?" Hale exclaims when Jax bursts into his office.

"We just got a call from Stockton. Zobelle had Otto jumped. The League has a reach that we didn't see."

"That has nothing to do with Charming." Hale justifies.

"That's where you are wrong. Zobelle is not some thug. We have no idea what we're dealing with here. Don't you get it! You are so hell bent on getting rid of us that you don't even know who you are getting in bed with."

"I'm not in bed with anone." Hale snarls.

"You gave Darby a pass after I handed him to you. It happened with Stahl. It's the same shit."

"Get out."

Jax leaves making sure to slam the door on his way out.

* * *

Tara finds Gemma in the hospital church.

"So who was the girl?" she asks joining her. Gemma just stares right ahead not answering. "Look, you need to talk to someone. Me, Bella...someone."

"I don't want...Neither one of you needs to have that knowledge in your head." she says.

"You need to talk about it. I know what it's like to keep something like this inside." Tara says turning to face her.

"I highly doubt that."

"Do you remember that I was carrying a gun a few months ago?"

"Yes..the fed."

"Had to get a restraining order and he still came after me."

"He rape you?" she asks coldly.

"Almost..I was just barely able to stop him." Tara says swallowing the bile in her mouth at the memory of Kohn.

"Does Jax know?"

"I needed to tell someone."

"What did Jax do with this knowledge?"

"Nothing. Kohn was already gone. You need to tell someone about this before you kill someone or get yourself killed." she says handing her a card. "I made a appointment for you. She's a friend, easy to talk to."

"A shrink? Really?" Gemma says talking the card.

"You are going to talk to her..or I'll tell Hale that you assaulted me and throw your crazy ass in jail." she says standing.

"Tara...what you're doing for me..the club..means a lot."

"You're welcome. Still need to see the shrink." she says smiling as she leaves.

* * *

Opie goes with Clay and Tig to see Oswald.

"What are you doing here?" Oswald asks as he stops his horse right in front of them.

"Get of your high horse." Tig snarks.

"Good one." Clay says with a smirk.

Tig shrugs and smirks.

"Ricardo." Oswald calls to one of his handlers as he gets off the horse.

"So, a little bird told me that the county is looking at your land." Clay starts.

"That not your concern." Oswald states.

"If it happens in Charming, it's Samcro's problem." Clay tells him and waits for the man to start talking.

"Got a letter from the zoning commission. Filing for eminent domain. They want to run a goddamn highway through my timber. If I don't unload it now, I'll lose it to the county for nothing."

"Bullshit."

"Unfortunately, no it isn't. Jacob Hale's putting together investors for some housing development. I have no choice put sell to him." Oswald says reluctantly.

"Don't sign a thing until I can look into this. Why don't you get me that letter." he says as Tig walks off when his phone starts ringing.

"That was Bobby. We're all set. Everyone will be at the table at five."

"Good. We need to move on this Zobelle shit. That never should have happened to Otto. I should have shut these assholes down sooner." Clay says.

"Jax is gonna go a different way." he states.

"I'm not gonna let Jax or anybody else stop us from what we got to do."

"We got us three and Bobby. Need five for majority." Tig states.

"Chibs might go with Jax. I know my old man will." he says.

Clay turns to Tig, "You talk to Juice. Let him know how important this is."

Tig nods.

* * *

"So, how's it going?" she asks leaning against the bay door, watching Embry work on Lyla's car.

"Going good." Embry says moving away from the car to stand close to her. "There's shit going down." he tells her softly.

She tilts her head and he follows her to the office, making sure to close the door behind them.

"What happened?" she asks.

"Seems Zobelle.." she growls softly at the sound of his name. "Had someone named Otto, jumped. Went for his eye."

"Shit, that's Luann's man." she says starting to pace. "Okay, have Gemma raped to break the club but Gemma being Gemma refuses to tell them about it... so I should have seen this coming."

"Bells, you are not the all seeing pixie bitch. There's no way you could have known."

She opens her mouth to retort when she hears a bike come back on the lot. Looking out the window she sees Jax head for the clubhouse. "Get back to work. Bry, thanks for being here."

He nods and heads back to work.

Taking a few deep breaths to clam down, she heads to the clubhouse to figure out what is going to happen.

"We don't have enough intel. If we strike back we could be playing into his hands." Jax was saying to Juice and Chibs.

"Zobelle's so clean, he squeaks." Juice says.

"That's the point." she says joining the boys at the bar.

"Thank you. See, she gets it." Jax says watching as she sits down.

"You need more information. Gotta figure what he wants in Charming. The guy is a suit, has money and connections we don't know." she tells them thankful that Jax and Opie tell her things.

"We gotta protect our boys on the inside. Need new alliances." Chibs says.

"That's what I'm talking about." Jax says.

They sit and talk things over for a few more minutes until he and Bella head out. He pulls her into a one arm hug and kisses the top of her head when they reach his bike.

"Your boy is doing good. We need more like him." he says as he gets on. "Thanks for backing me up."

"There's a time for revenge but Zobelle is a piece of work. We need to know more otherwise..."

"I know. Gonna go talk to Bobby. If you get the chance, might want to give Ma a call to check on Luann."

She nods in agreement as he rides off. She heads back into the office to help get some filing done.

* * *

He goes to talks to Bobby but Bobby needs to know what's going on with him and Clay.

"I can't tell you." Jax says taking a puff off his cigarette.

"How ya doing?" Piney says entering the office.

"You old enough to be watching?" He jokes.

"Hired him as security."

Piney just grins and wiggles his eyebrows.

"Dirty old bastard. I'm gonna need you at the table tonight."

"I'll be there. Hey how's Tara doing?" Piney asks as he starts to leave.

"What do you mean?" he says turning slightly.

"Heard Gemma clocked her and broke her nose."

"Son of a bitch." he mutters leaving.

* * *

She's working on her paperwork when Jax shows up.

"Dammit, what happened?" he asks.

"It was stupid, I came up behind her. Must have startled her." she tries to tell him. "It was an accident."

"You know this disclosing thing works both ways." he says.

She pulls him away from the desk and kisses him softly. "I know."

He smiles, gives her one more kiss and walks off.

Seeing her supervisor, she quickly goes back to her paperwork. "Almost done." she says grabbing the paperwork to finish signing them.

"If you need to file a report..." the woman, Margaret, starts.

"Why would I want to do that." she asks.

"Well, its common knowledge that your boyfriend is part of a motorcycle gang."

"Club. They're a club."

"Sure." the woman snarks. "I just hope that club doesn't become a problem."

"My personal life has nothing to do..."

"I'm sure you are right but when that personal life hits you in the face hard enough to impact your work. It becomes our problem." she says before walking away.

* * *

Jax runs into Gemma on his way out.

"Really, Ma? What is it with you and busting noses?"

"This one was an accident. I swear."

He rolls his eyes, "What you doing here?"

"Same thing as you." she smiles. "Come on, get me out of here."

* * *

Clay is talking to Unser about Oswald's letter, while Tig looks around when Opie notices Weston and a couple other Aryans with him, headed their way.

"Clay." Opie says getting his attention and points outside.

The three of them leave the barbershop.

Jax turns onto Main street and sees Opie headed for Weston.

"Shit. Get off, Ma." he tells her and she quickly gets off the bike as he roars to a stop between Opie and Weston.

"What the hell, Jax?" Opie yells as he gets off his bike.

"Street brawl is not the answer, use your head." he starts to say to diffuse the situation until Weston kicks his bike over. "Son of a bitch." he yells as he goes for Weston.

Tig and Opie join the fray as Clay watches with a smile on his face.

Gemma walks slowly, watching, her heart numb. She hears the sirens and knows that the boys will be arrested.

* * *

In the office, she reaches into her bag a pulls out her leather bound copy of the manuscript.

"What you reading?" Embry asks sitting down on the desk.

"Copy of something important." she says. "Listen to this... _I realized that in my downward spiral of hopelessness, I was actually falling into the huge hole created by my absence of basic human graces. The most obvious was forgiveness. If I was wronged by anyone, in or out of the club, I had to be compensated... money or blood. There was no turning the other cheek. When relationships become a ledger of profit and loss, you have no friends, no loved ones, just pluses and minuses. You're absolutely alone._ "

"Damn..who wrote that?" he asks.

"Jax's dad. I love my uncle but I agree with the Jax the club needs to change."

"I get it." he says. He's about to say more when her phone starts ringing.

"Neeta, what's up?" he watches as she starts to collect her stuff. "Okay, I'll check on her. I will be back. Tara came home, not looking right."

"I gotta get back to work. Don't want your man to fire me for not finishing the job he gave me."

"Wh..." she starts to ask him what he means but he's already left. Shaking her head she heads to her truck to go see what is going on with Tara.

* * *

Hale walks into the holding cells and unlocks Weston and company's cell first.

"This happens again. You'll do thirty for public disturbance. Get out." Hale tells them and makes sure they are gone before he turns to Samcro's cell.

He unlocks it but asks Clay and Jax to hold on. He gives them photos and a DVD that Zobelle gave him.

"What's this?" Clay asks.

"Someone's running surveillance on you. That is footage of Opie torching the meth lab, face clear as day."

"Jesus." Jax mutters under his breath.

"Why you giving this to us?" Clay asks slightly confused.

"I refuse to be on anyone's payroll. Also, a few years ago this buddy of brother got caught running a scam. Get a zoning official on the take, threaten land owners with eminent domain and force them to sell their property cheap. My old man got it buried, guy walked away. His new job, on the San Joaquin zoning commission."

"So no highway."

"Doubt it."

"Thanks." Clay and Jax say before leaving.

* * *

"What happened to you?" Bella asks coming into the nursery to find Tara staring at Abel while he lays in his crib.

"Gemma." Tara says.

"What's going on?" she asks stopping by the crib and rubs Abel stomach when he starts to whimper.

"I've been sitting here trying to figure out where I fit in all this." Tara says as she starts to cry.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"The violence, the porn, the other girls. Gemma. I know it's not normal."

"Normal is overrated." she says with a soft laugh.

"I just can't shake this thought that something horrible is going to happen. I don't know if I can..."

"Tara, if you can not deal, you need to leave because I will be damned if I let you break his or Abel's heart." she says standing upright.

"Bella.." Jax says softly, entering the room, his dad's manuscript in hand. "Bella, knows what this is. She's been there supporting me. My dad wrote this before he passed. It's his vision of the club. What went wrong and how to fix it. I'm doing everything in my power to change all those things that you are afraid of. Stay, Tara." he says kneeling next to her, placing the manuscript in her lap.

She slowly opens it. He kisses the top of her head and leaves her alone.

Bella smiles softly at Able before turning to leave as well. "He loves you, he needs us to help him and support him." she tells Tara before she leaves the room.

* * *

The club sits at the table.

"It has been one hell of a shit year and I know that we are laying low to get rid of this ATF bullshit. I would never put a member of this club at risk but...we underestimated Zobelle's reach. He's hurt a brother. We need to act now or it's a sign of weakness and they'll do it again. We have an obligation to this club, this two to get rid of this threat. Retaliation must be immediate. It's how we've always done things." Clay says looking at his brothers and son.

Jax takes a deep breath. "I agree with everything. We underestimated Zobelle. Need to protect our club, our town. Undisputable we need to retaliate but if we do it now, we are doing it half-blind. These guys are moneyed, smart and connected. Both sides of the law. They wanted us to blow Darby's lab." he throws the DVD into the middle of the table. "That's us doing it. Ope's face, clear as day. Jumping Otto is bait that Zobelle knows we'll take. He wants us to retaliate, he's waiting for it. I love Otto, I would do anything to give him his eye but not at the expense of my club. We need to wait. Learn."

* * *

"Your uncle want to retaliate now while Jax wants to wait and learn." Embry tells her over the phone. To onlookers it looks like he is just taking a break by the clubhouse door when he is really listening in for her.

* * *

"Let's vote." Clay says. "Immediate retaliation."

"Abso-fucking-lutely." Tigs says.

"No, it don't feel right." Chips says.

"Yea." Opie says.

"Nay." Piney says breaking another cigarette.

They all look at Juice, "Yea." he says looking unsure.

"Four-two." Clay says looking at Bobby.

"Smart vote. Nay." Bobby says looking sure.

"Nay. No majority. We wait." Jax says.

Clay is clearly disappointed but abides by the vote.

* * *

"It's tied. Waiting on retaliation." Embry says standing up and heading back to the car he's working on.

"Good. Thanks, Bry." she says watching him from the office. He timed it just right 'cause the clubhouse door opens and all but Clay and Bobby come out.

* * *

Opie and Embry are checking over the car when Lyla gets there.

"It all set?" Lyla asks ignoring Embry and staring at Opie.

"Yeah, Embry here got it all fixed up." Opie says feeling uncomfortable that Lyla is clearly trying to come on to him.

Lyla smiles and reaches into her pocket to give him her number when she notices Bella coming over to them.

"Lyla, we need to talk before you go." she says grabbing Lyla by the arm and pulls her to the office. She closes the door and pushes Lyla into the wall, her hand wrapped loosely around her throat.

"Opie is off limits." she snarls.

"His old lady is dead. I made sure of that." Lyla tries to justify.

She growls softly and gets closer, "Do you need a reminder of what I am capable of?"

"Bella..I.."

"I don't give a flying fuck what you thought. He is off limits. Do you understand?" she says tightening her hand lightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know the two of you were together. I'll make sure everyone knows." Lyla says shakily. She releases her hold and Lyla runs out of the office. Not bothering to give anyone a second look as she gets into her car and drives off.

"What was that about?" Gemma asks as she and Tara get there.

"Making sure things are known." she says ignoring the smirk Embry has on his face.

The three of them walk over to the clubhouse.

"What's going on?" Gemma asks seeing Jax and Piney's faces.

"Hard vote." Jax says as Tara sits down with him.

"Where is he?"

"Inside." Piney says. Gemma sighs before heading inside.

* * *

They sit on the picnic table, waiting while Chibs goes to move a minivan that was just brought in.

Clay and Gemma come out.

Embry is sitting next to her when he suddenly starts running for the minivan.

She stands quickly, knowing something is wrong when Chibs suddenly gets out of the car as it explodes.

They watch as Chibs gets thrown by the blast. They rush to him as blood begins to pool beneath his head.

Embry is there first and is removing his shirt to place it under Chibs head.

"STOP!" Tara yells as she reaches them and gets to work.

* * *

An ambulance leaves under the watchful eye of the club.

"This was Zobelle." Jax says when he finds Hale. "Otto. Now Chibs. This guy is trying to break us. There anything we can use against this guy?"

"He has yet to make a mistake." Hale says looking over Jax's shoulder to see Opie holding Bella. He watches as Opie whispers something to her before walking away. Bella wraps her arms around herself as a guy he doesn't know steers her over to Gemma and the others.

"I was able to push off the retaliation for Otto but Clay is gonna want Zobelle's head on a stick. I got this knot in my stomach that we are heading right for a trap."

"So don't." Hale says.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Someone hurts us like this, we need to retaliate."

"Seriously, you're gonna go into this blind?" Hale asks.

"Not if I can get to Zobelle first."

"What happens when you get a hold of him?" Hale asks.

Jax just shrugs.

"Are you asking me to help?" Hale asks shocked.

"We both know this guy has something on you. Think of it as a self interest favor."

"If I help you find this guy, you gotta swear to hand him over to me alive."

"You can't arrest him."

"He'll be a person of interest, be able to hold him for twenty four hours."

"Might give Clay a chance to calm down, the others too." he mutters.

Hale nods and walks off.

"Jax!" he turns to see Mary coming for him.

"Whatcha doing here?" he asks as they start to walk towards Tara and the others.

"This thing with Chibs...its gonna push Ope even further away."

"What do you mean?"

"He barely comes home and when he does, he just barely acknowledge the kids. They are so lost if it wasn't for Bella I don't know how they would be dealing."

"Have you talking to Bella about this? I know the two of them talk."

"I haven't...I didn't sign on for this. Those kids need a mother and a father. I can't talk to Ope, we have zero history."

"Piney?"

"On his way to the cabin. This will be at least a week long bender. Can you please talk to him?" Mary begs slighlty.

He nods and walks off.

* * *

"I'm going to head to the hospital." Tara says joining Gemma and Bella. Embry is sittin on the table behind Bella. Looking like he would attack anyone that dared get to close to Bella or Gemma.

"Alright, we'll meet you there." Gemma says standing up as Jax comes over to them.

"They're waiting for you inside." Bella tells hoarsely. Embry places a hand on her shoulder, trying to give her support since he knew that this was upsetting her. _I should have smelled it, been quicker._

"Okay." he says pulling Tara into a hug. "What?" he asks forcing her to look at him.

"Are you safe? Am I? We just watched our friend get blown up."

"Tara..."

"Go..." Tara says knowing he needs to get inside. He kisses her one last time and heads inside. "Was this them? The ones..." she asks looking at Gemma. "Could this have been prevented if you told someone..."

"Don't put this on me." Gemma snarls and walks off.

Bella glares at her as Embry pulls her away.

* * *

Inside, the guys hold council.

Clay doesn't care what anyone has to say. He wants Zobelle dead.

Even though they don't have a plan not even Bobby is able to dissuade him.

He lets them know that Unser is looking up Zobelle and Weston's addresses.

Now its a waiting game.

* * *

Remembering his conversation with Mary, he follows after Opie and finds him in one of the rooms, his clothes everywhere.

"You living here?" Jax asks as Ope changes his shirt.

"Just crash once in a while."

"Listen man, your mom is worried. Told me her grand-kids never see their dad."

"Bullshit, I might not go home but I make time to see the kids. Bella would murder me if I didn't see 'em. She already ripped me a new one when she found out that I wasn't home as much as she thought."

"Okay man, just making sure all is good with you. I know that you are dealing with shit, while I'm glad you're more involved with the club, I worry."

"Worry about your own shit brother. This beef you got with Clay, its not good for the club."

"Yeah..."

"You need to back down, get back in line. Before someone gets hurt." he says before slipping his kutte back on.

"Jax..." Bella says standing in the doorway.

He nods and leaves them alone, closing the door behind him.

"You're right, I would kill ya if you didn't see them." she says softly. She looked at him with those eyes, and his control broke. He needed to touch her. He moved close to her and she instantly placed her hands on his hips. He slid his hands up her back and cupped the back of her neck with one hand, pulling her flush against him with the other.

He crushed her mouth against his, taking everything that she offered. He pushed her against the wall and moved his hands to her thighs. He pushed against her and her legs parted as he lifted her up.

His hips pinned her to the wall and his hands started to roam everywhere. Her skin, soft and smelling of strawberries made him want to lick every inch of her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered between feverish kisses. She wasn't sure if he was apologizing for the kiss or something else. She didn't answer just kissed him and let herself cling to him.

As fast as it started, he reluctantly moved away from her, her legs weak as she tried to stand. Licking her lips she opened her mouth to say something but the slam on the door caused him to leave without a word.

* * *

Unser gets there and hands Clay a couple addresses.

"Juice, grab Bella's friend and clean this place up."

"Gatcha." Juice says going to find Embry.

"Might want to have your guys take a break." Clay says to Unser.

"They're looking a little famished." Unser says heading over to his guys.

Jax's phone starts ringing so he walks toward his bike when he notices that it is Hale.

He's talking to Hale when Bella passes him heading to her truck. Seems Zobelle is nowhere to be found but he is trying to find Weston. They decide to meet up to bug Darby for some information.

The other join him and start getting on their bikes, thinking quick he begs off claiming to her to the hospital to check on Chibs and drives off.

"Jax on board?" Tig asks getting on his bike.

"No, he's not." Opie tells them.

"Follow him." Clay tells him. With a nod, he gets on his bike and roars after him.e

* * *

Jax meets up with Hale at Darby's shop.

"He's not here. Told his guys to be here at seven." Hale tells him as Opie rolls up.

"Crap." he mutters under his breath as he lights up a cigarette. He slowly walks over to Ope as he heads his way.

"Thought you were headed to St. Thomas."

"No news on him yet. Bella is there with Ma and Tara. Thought that Darby could point us in the right direction."

"Looks like Hale had the same idea." he scoffs.

"Looks like. Thought you were running down the home addresses with everyone else." he snarks.

"Clay figured it would be better with fewer guys. Anything here?"

"Dead end."

Ope nods, "I'll wait. We can head back together." he says before heading back to the bikes at Jax's nod of agreement.

"Problem?" hale ask rejoining him.

"Isn't always. Give me a call when you get Weston's address."

"Where you going?" he asks as Jax puts out is cigarette.

"To lose my best friend." he mutters.

* * *

Jax speeds off into traffic and succeeds in losing Opie.

* * *

"Tell me you are joking." she says standing outside trying to keep from pacing.

"No. We were already to get rid of everything but those damn techs showed up. Unser had a bright idea about dropping his piss on the evidence they collected but ended up in a tech's face."

"Any..."

"Sorry Bells."

"Bry..its okay." she leans her head against the building. "Do me a favor, just watch out for them. I know they are going to do something stupid."

"Make sure they have some wolf backup?"

She laughs. "Yeah. Gotta go." she hangs up and heads back inside.

* * *

Opie rejoins Clay and the guys by Weston's. removing his kutte, he follows them up the side path to the house. Where they are stopped by Hale. Hearing gunshots, they sprint up to the house.

They get to the house and start firing.

"IT'S A KID!" Jax screams from inside.

"LIAR! Race traitor!" the kid scream as the rest of SAMCRO comes inside with Hale.

"Call child services. Have that little psychopath committed." he snarls when the kid spits at him.

Happy comes out of a room with Weston's laptop but its password protected.

Clay tells him to bring it to Juice.

"So running with Hale now." Ope snarks following Jax out of the house.

"Just working things from a different angle. Same goal though."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"Keep the boss happy." he says as he walks off to his bike.

Ope heads back to Clay, only to find out that Juice was unable to keep the tech from doing their job.

Pissed, he heads to Zobelle's shop. Finding it locked, he busts in the glass door and starts trashing the place before finding a cigar and lights it up.

* * *

"He's stable." Tara says sitting down with Gemma and Bella. "He is still critical though. The way he landed caused a subdural hematoma."

"In English, doc." Gemma says.

"She means that Chibs has a blood clot on his brain." Bella tells her standing and beginning to pace.

"That's right...how?" Tara asks.

"My ex's dad was a doctor and I knew the ER personal on a first name basis since I was a royal klutz. You overhear things when you are there long enough." she tells them, shrugging her shoulders.

"It is severe but if it subsides, he'll be okay. For now all we can do is monitor him."

"And if it gets worse?" Gemma asks as Bella stops pacing and looks at Tara, biting her lip.

"They'll need to go in and relieve the pressure."

"Are you saying they'll have to but open his head?"

"That's worse case, right Tara?" Bella asks.

"Yeah...about earlier, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"It's okay. Been a shitty day for all of us." Gemma says standing.

"It okay if I catch a ride home with you?" Tara asks standing.

"Sure." Gemma says.

"Have a couple things to finish..."

"I'll wait downstairs." Gemma says as she and Bella head to leave.

They bump into Hale near the hospital chapel.

"How's Chibs doing?" Hale asks.

She narrows her eyes at him as Gemma gives him an update.

"You have a minute?" he ask Gemma.

"For what?" she snarls as Gemma nods.

"I've hit a wall in trying to find out who did this. I was hoping you could help." Hale says rubbing the back of his neck as he maneuvers them into the empty chapel.

"I don't know any more than my boys do." she tells him.

"Unser told me." She looks at him in confusion. "About what happened...at least what he knows."

"Son of a..." Gemma starts.

"He had to." Hale tries to justify.

"Why were you starting to get close to being in Zobelle's pocket?" Bella hisses at him.

"We all know that Zobelle was behind this. Give me something, anything. It will never be known that it came from you."

Gemma lets out a deep breath, "Girl in her twenties, cute, blond...good rack. She's the only one I saw."

"Okay..." he's about to say more when she stalks off. "Bella..."

"Don't even. Find a way to make this asshole pay or the club will. One more person finds out about this, and I'll turn you into a woman." she snarls before stalking out herself.

* * *

A Charming PD officer has found and detained Earnest Darby; Jax and Hale question him and believe that he doesn't know a thing about the bomb.

Darby let's them know that the girl Hale tells him about sounds like Zobelle's daughter.

Hale tells Jax that she was seen where the minivan was left.

* * *

Bella is sitting at the table cleaning the gun Embry had brought up to her from her dad when Gemma and Tara walk in. She holds out her hand and Gemma places her gun in her hand so that she can clean it once she done.

Tara watches her closely.

"You still have the one I gave you?" Gemma asks as she takes care of bag of food she brought in.

"Tossed it when Kohn left town." she says sitting down.

"Hmph, wait here." Gemma says leaving the room.

"You should have a gun." Bella says finishing up with the cleaning of her gun and starts on Gemma's.

"I..."

"I get it if you're scared of it. I was too but my dad took me to a gun range and by the end of the day I wasn't scared anymore." she says as Gemma comes into the room with a couple hat boxes.

She opens them to reveal that both are full of guns.

"Holy crap. Do you and Clay really need that many guns?"

"Honey, these are just mine." Tara stars at her in shock. She reaches in and pulls one out before handing it to Tara. "How does this feel?"

"Not bad. Not that heavy."

".38. Blow a good hole." she says opening another box and starts loading up her bag with guns and ammo. "Here." she says placing some ammo in Tara's hand.

"What's this for?" Tara asks as Gemma grabs her keys.

"Let's go girls." she say looking at both of them. They all get into her car and they drive to Luann's warehouse. She places the guns and ammo on a roll cart nearby and tapes of a random movie poster.

The target practice begins. Tara is getting the hang of it while Bella is a rock-star on par with Gemma.

"Is it always going to be like this?" Tara ask as Bella puts up a new poster.

"You just came back at a bad time. it will settle down, gets downright boring." Gemma says. "Now, Bella. You and Opie?" she says causing Bella to miss her shot.

"I don't know what we are. We talk every night and have kissed a couple times, but it doesn't bode well when a guy apologizes while he is kissing you."

"Give him time, sweetie. Be there for him." Gemma says with a smile. They turn when a car peels into the lot, music blaring.

Tara aims her gun at Ima when she gets out of the car and spins the chamber. Ima quickly runs off.

"I enjoyed that." Tara says with a smirk.

"You're gonna love this." Gemma says and shoots out Ima's tire.

Laughing, Tara and Bella take aim and join in shooting out the car.

* * *

Knowing something is wrong, Embry quickly follows after Jax and the club.

Seeing them stop, he phases to his wolf and hides.

He watches as Jax, Opie and the rest of them arm themselves and head towards the building.

He whines wishing he could tell them that its not cons but families that he hears inside.

He hears the shots but knows that it wasn't the Sons, the shots sound wrong for AKs.

He whimpers as people come rushing out. He follows after Opie who is chasing after Zobelle.

When Opie loses Zobelle in the traffic, he cuts him off, nearly making him crash, so it will take longer for him to get back.

* * *

Tara sits with Abel in her arms and reads the manuscript.

* * *

Gemma lights candles in church and prays.

* * *

Bella lays in her bed staring at her phone, worrying that she hasn't heard from Bry or Opie.

* * *

Opie comes back to the church and finds all of the guys being arrested and led away.

Jax and Clay stare daggers at each other as they're put in the paddy wagons.


	8. Chapter 8

"Words out. Us white boys are on our own." Jax says joining the rest of the Sons at the table.

"Zobelle is hitting us at all corners. Rosen thinks it will be awhile before we see a courtroom." Clay tells them when he sits down.

"Without a color crew, we're not gonna make it to trail." Bobby says looking around uneasy.

"I'm gonna work on getting us some friends." Clay says standing so that he and Tig can start walking the yard.

* * *

"This is bullshit." Bella says looking like she would attack the lawyer if Embry didn't have a a hold of her shoulders. They are sitting with Tara and Gemma at the house while Rosen, the lawyers gives them the bad news.

"Bail is set at three million. That's what it is. Couldn't get it any lower." Rosen says.

"So a seven figure bail, no court date. Bella is right this is bullshit." Gemma snarls taking a drag of her cigarette.

"They have security tapes. Women and children running for their lives. It doesn't look good."

"Look what happened to Otto." Tara says. "We need to get them out of there."

"They have zero protection." Gemma says as her eyes start to tear up.

"I know." Rosen says.

"What about a bondsman?" Embry asks.

"Five hundred thousand a head at ten percent, you'll need at least 300k to get all six out."

"The house. I can post the house." Gemma says.

"My dad's too." Tara says.

"That might be enough to get Clay out, maybe Jax." Rosen says.

"All of them at the same time. Uncle Clay wont leave them behind." Bella says as she starts biting her thumb nail as Embry starts rubbing her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"I'm sorry. Gemma..Clay wants you to call Laroy and give him this message, asap. I never saw it. Never gave it to you." Rosen says handing Gemma a piece of paper as he gets up to leave.

Gemma waits a moment before standing and heading into another room.

"Tara, go back to work. I think knowing Chibs has someone watching out for him might help a little." Bella says sighing.

Tara nods and stands, not before giving Bella a hug and heads out.

"I'm gonna go get some work done." Embry says kissing the top of her head before moving to head out.

"Bry, thanks for keeping Ope safe. It's not much but it helps."

He smirks and heads out.

* * *

"Opie." the worker with him nods his head to behind him, he turns to see his mom there with the kids. Grabbing a rag, he wipes off his hand and heads over to them. They rush over to him and hug him. He places an arm around both of them and loosely returns the hug. "Why aren't they in school?"

"Bomb threat, school's closed for a few days. Didn't you get my message?" Mary says.

"It's been a little crazy around here, haven't been able to get to my phone." he tells her honestly.

"I'm heading up to the cabin. Gonna make sure that Piney hasn't fallen over dead. Looks like you need to be a dad today."

Swallowing hard, "I'll handle it. Piney's fine, you know how he gets."

Mary nods before turning to the kids. "Behave for your dad. Love you both." she says giving each a hug and kiss before heading out.

"Love you too, grandma." both of them say before turning to look at their dad.

"Why don't you two go sit in the office for now?" he says and steers them towards the office, he loves his kids but still feels uneasy around them without a buffer.

* * *

Clay and Tig visit with Laroy's cousin, who happens to be the leader of the Black Guerilla Family.

In exchange for protection, he wants SAMCRO to deal with a few rats.

Dion, a former crew member now in protective custody and Venus, a trans drug dealer in Stockton.

They give Clay a phone to make things happen.

* * *

Gemma, with Embry, walks into the office to find Ellie and Kenny doing school work.

"Where's grandma?" she asks when Kenny notices them standing there.

"She went to find grandpa." Kenny says as Opie comes into the office, closing his phone. "That was Clay."

Embry moves around Gemma and Opie and heads to start getting some work down, making sure to stay within hearing distance.

"On the cell?" Gemma asks.

Opie nods and the two of them leave the kids alone so they can talk.

"He okay?"

"For now. He needs me to run an errand. Its gonna take awhile." he says looking at his kids.

"I'll call Neeta to come grab them or do you want me to call Bella?" Gemma asks watching his face.

"Have Neeta grab 'em. Pick up at Jax's?"

Gemma nods and watches as he heads into the office to tell his kids that he needs to go but Neeta will be coming to get them.

* * *

"So we need to get them access to two rats. Opie is handing the one on the outside, Trammel is gonna help set her up." Clay tells Bobby, Jax and Tig.

"What about the other one?" Bobby asks.

"He's over there in PC. Seems he's got a thing for Puerto Rican wood." Clay says nodding towards where Juice is sitting with Happy.

"Juice bait?" Bobby asks.

"Just gotta lure Dion someplace that Russell's crew can get access to him." Jax says.

"Set it up. I'll let our black daddies know it's all in motion."

Jax heads over to the other side of the yard where Dion is. "Must get lonely up there?" he says putting on the charm.

"You new, blondie?"

"Yeah, Clay." Jax says with an internal smirk.

"Smoke." Dion says pulling a cigarette out of the pack in his hand.

"Thanks." he says nodding and Dion throws it to him.

"Dion can get you anything you need, Clay. That face and body..get you a lot of credit." Dion says looking him up and down with a leer.

"Thank..but I belong to him." he turns and points to Bobby, who is standing with the others as they make Juice put on a show without Juice knowing he is on display. "Fat guy with the beard."

"Too bad." Jax notices that his eyes stay on Juice who just happened to strip off his shirt.

Smirking, "Have other revenue though. Short, pretty one with the stupid haircut."

"Doable, man."

"Fifty credit." Jax begins to bargain.

"Thirty..need a test drive first.."

"I'll make sure he's ready for ya. Where?"

"Infirmary." Jax nods and walks over to join his crew.

* * *

Opie meets with Trammel. "Name's Vincent Bell otherwise known as Venus. Some tranny dealer. Need you to track her down. I'll take care of the rest. Direct from Clay." he says handing over some cash.

"Alright, plant it under the driver's seat. I don't need a warrant for that..and make sure not to scrimp on it. Need more than a misdemeanor to get him...her into county." Trammel tells him.

He agrees and pulls out his phone when Trammel drives off.

"Bella...need your help." he says when she answers.

"What's up?"

"Clay has me doing an errand to help get him and the others protection and I need some drugs to plant on a rat."

"Okay...I can head to Luann's. I know a few of the girls use. I'll see if they can either give some of their stash or call their dealer."

"Okay, call if you need help."

"Always." she says before hanging up.

* * *

The guys surround Juice who is slipping his shirt back on.

"How you doing, beautiful?" Tig says with a smirk as he moves to stand behind him.

"What?" Juice asks feeling afraid.

"Gonna need you to take one for the club." Bobby tells him.

"Snitch over there, you are his type and he finds you very appetizing." Clay says tilting his head over at Dion.

"Need to get him out of PC for the family. Get us protection." Jax says.

"How?" Juice asks, standing still nervous about the answer. Clay just arches an eyebrow at him as Tig and Happy start making bad porno music. "Are you serious?!"

"You're just the bait. Nothing is gonna happen." Jax tries to reassure him. "Black will jump in before it goes down."

"Hopefully." Tig snarks.

"Fifty-fifty chance no dick goes up your ass." Clay jokes.

"Arranged a meet in the infirmary. You just need to distract him and let in Russell's crew. Piece of cake." Jax explains.

"How am I suppose to get in there?" Juice asks unsure of this plan.

Tig solves the problem punching him in the back.

* * *

Bella gets to the warehouse and collects from a few of the girls that she knows use. Each hand over a little of their own stash. Knowing it's not enough she heads over to Lyla.

"Need a few with you." she says causing Lyla to stop in the middle of getting ready for her shoot to look at her.

"What's up? Seen you talking to some of the girls and them giving you some of their supply." Lyla says her eyes still a little fearful but she knows that she was in the wrong.

"Need help getting the club some protection. Unfortunately need a lot more than what I got so far."

"I can call my dealer, how much more you need?" Lyla asks trying to make up for trying to put moves on Bella's man. Now that she had talked to other girls she knew that she was stupid to try when it was clear to everyone that he was extremely into Bella.

"At least half an ounce and any extra things he wants to include."

"Okay. He's an asshole though."

"What do you mean?"

"I have to blow him even though I pay him."

She nods and smirks, "Call him. I'll make sure that shit ends."

Lyla walks away to call her dealer. Pulling out her phone she calls Ope.

"Told you I'd call if I needed help." she says with a soft smile.

* * *

Juice returns to the yard and gives them a thumbs up. As he is walking back over the guys, a white prisoner comes up behind Juice and stabs him twice in the back.

The club comes to his aid and guards take him away.

* * *

Lyla meets her dealer outside.

She turns to have him follow her inside when she notices Opie and Bella at the door.

"Fuck." Lyla mutters hiding her smirk before her dealer can see her face.

"What's this?" the dealer asks.

"Luann hire security and her partner is..."

"Get inside Lyla. I told you this shit is not done here." Bella says coming forward and grabs her by the arm, making it look good for the dealer. "Get rid of the that trash." she says as they pass Opie.

Once they girls are inside he turns on the dealer, punching him and takes his stash.

When the guy doesn't take a hint to get gone and lose Lyla's number, he pulls a gun to scare him away.

* * *

In the yard, Clay reports that Juice is going to live. The shank missed the vitals.

They hope Opie can finish up the second part of the deal so they'll have protection.

* * *

Opie and Trammel converge on the transvestite snitch.

She runs into a convenience store and Opie gets to work planting the drugs Bella got a hold of as the cop waits to do the bust.

The tranny gets back in her car and is immediately pulled over.

Opie watches as the sheriff's guy approaches her car.

A shot is fired just as Trammel reaches the car door and he goes down holding his stomach. The bitch drives off.

Opie rushes to Trammel's aid, and uses the police radio to report an "officer down."

* * *

Opie stands in Bella's bathroom, his shirt on the floor as he tries to wash Trammel's blood off of him. He's thankful that Kenny and Ellie are at Jax's.

"Hey..you okay?" she asks holding out a shirt for him to change into.

"Not sure. Shit..." he mutters noticing the clock. "I need to go get Kenny and Ellie from Neeta."

"No..why don't you update uncle Clay about what happened and then go work for an hour or so to get your mind off of this. I'll go get the kids, grab some food for the house and make us some supper. Right now is not a good time for them to see their dad."

"There's never a good time for me to be around my kids," he mutters softly.

"Someday there will be." she says softly as she leans up and brushes a soft kiss on his lips. "Lasagna sound good? I'll save you some if you want."

He nods and watches her turn to go. _How is she interested in a screw-up like me?_

* * *

Bella goes to pick up Kenny and Ellie. Gemma and Tara each give her knowing looks when she does. Not sure if they have what she'll need at the house, she takes them for a quick grocery shop before heading to Opie's. making sure to get stuff for breakfast, lunches and a few snacks.

_When I see Mary, we need to have a talk about the lunches she has been sending with the kids._

She livid when she sees very little food in the house. "Hey guys why don't you find a couple movies for us to watch tonight." she tells them and they go running. She starts taking food out to take care of it.

"Bella!" Ellie calls out.

"What sweetie?" she says leaving the kitchen.

"Grandma's room is empty." Ellie says grabbing her hand to show her. She's right all of Mary's stuff is gone, like she had never been there. Sending Ellie to the living room she pulls out her cell to call Gemma as she returns to the kitchen and starts putting the lasagna together.

"Gemma, she split." she says the instant Gemma picks up.

"What do you mean?"

"Mary. All her stuff is gone. It's like she was never here." she growls.

"That bitch."

"Ditto. I think I might stay here for a few nights if it's okay with Ope. Those two..."

"Bella, stay there. Those three need someone that's not going to bolt when things get rough."

"Okay, tell Embry that he can use my bed instead of the couch for a few days." she says.

"And where are you going to be sleeping? Papa Bear's bed?" Gemma asks with a laugh.

She smiles and after saying goodbye, not answering Gemma question, gets back to making supper.

* * *

Tara and Gemma get a surprise visitor.

Oswald lets them know that he posted the boys bail.

When Gemma thanks him, he tells her to thank his daughter.

* * *

Opie finally gets to the house just as Bella is putting on a movie for the kids, who are all ready for bed. Showered, fed and in their pj's.

"She left, didn't she." he asks standing by the couch, looking at his kids laying on the other couch, with their blankets over them in case they fall asleep while the movie is playing.

"Yeah." she says softly.

"I really am alone." he mutters taking off his kutte.

"No, your not." she says pulling him to sit next to her to watch the movie playing. "Oswald posted bail. They'll be home later." she whispers to him as they cuddle together. He pulls her close to him. _I want her...need her._

He slowly starts running his hand up and down her arm, sending small shivers through her.

She smiles and leans against him when she feels him kiss her neck. As the movie plays, he is unable to not touch or kiss her every so often.

Ellie and Kenny each smile when they notice them holding each other.

Seeing the kids asleep. She stands, taking his hand to have him follow her out of the room. She needs to be close to him.

He wanted to touch her, taste her. Run his hands all over her body and pull her close. He wanted to crush his hands through her hair and ravage her mouth, hear her moan his name in his ears.

"I want you." he says softly as they enter his room. He shuts the door and leans against it, watching her.

She looks him in the eye, cups his face and softly pressed her lips to his.

"Bella." He was aware that his voice was a throaty, scratchy version of itself.

She looks him in the eyes and he genuinely felt himself drown in their depths. _Too beautiful, too innocent, too good for someone like him._

"Christ, you always smell like fresh strawberries." he says pulling her closer.

"It's my body wash. Do you like it?" she says with a smile. In response, he licked the pulse at the base of her neck. He felt her pulse leap. He brushes his fingers through her hair. "What are you doing?" she was breathless.

"Fulfilling a fantasy." His eyes locked with hers as his fingers fisted in her hair. Dragging her lips towards his, he whispered, "and doing this right," before crushing his lips to hers.

Her lips opened immediately, granting him access. The kiss was hot, wet, urgent, sexy. His hands angled her head, granting him better access, his tongue dueling with hers. She gave as good as she got.

She pulled away and reached for the hem of his shirt, and started running her hands on his skin while trying to get the shirt off him. In response, his hands went to her shirt and with one quick motion she was topless in front of him.

He lifted her up and her legs wrapped around his waist, he pressed their bodies together. Mid-kiss, she gasped, plunging her hands into his hair, once she pulled the beanie he always wore off.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but her passionate response did come as somewhat of a surprise. What she lacked in skill, she made up for in enthusiasm. He could kiss her mouth forever. But they needed to breathe and so his lips blazed a trail down her throat.

Unsure about being on his bed he lowered them to the floor. His hands cupped her bra covered breasts, the nipples already hard. He was hard as a rock. She was panting when he rocked against her.

She dragged his head back to her mouth. He was drunk on her lips. He couldn't get enough. She nibbled at his lip whenever he tried to let them breathe. Her hands, tentative but willing, explored his skin. Goosebumps raced from the base of his skull to his fingertips. He was ready to bury himself inside her. They were wearing too much clothing.

Reluctantly he wrenched his mouth from hers. Her skin was deeply flushed, her eyes glazed with passion.

"Harry..." She searched his eyes.

"Are you sure? "

She swallowed and then nodded. "Make love to me."

She wanted this man and she was going to be with him.

They each lowered their hands to their jeans. She buried her face in his neck and placed hot, open mouthed kisses there before trailing up to nip at his ear as they helped each other out of their jeans and underwear until they lay nude on the floor.

Cradled between her thighs, his bare chest pressed to her naked one his final defenses crumbled. Her hands ran down his back, over his torso, her fingers combing through the fine hairs on his chest, her nails digging into his back at times. The sweetest pain. The pressure in his groin were not going to be able to handle her exploitative ministrations.

He pulled her hands away from him and held them over her head and explored her body. Her skin was flush with need, the scent of strawberries like a cocoon around him. He moved back to her mouth, kissing whatever sense she had left away. His fingers delved between her thighs. She was drenched. He pushed a finger inside her, bringing a whimper and moan out of her, he waited then added another. When she moaned against his mouth, he thought it would not be a bad way to leave this world. Her body was tight, hot and wet. And it was all for him.

"Please... Please." she whimpered against his mouth.

"Bella, if I hurt you, tell me... I'll stop." He entered her slowly, watching her. Inch by torturous inch, he made himself go slowly, even when every instinct demanded he bury himself to the hilt. Her eyes widened, she bit her lip. Her nails dug into his arm and side forcing himself to stop until she nodded and he continued his slow entrance.

"You okay?" It took all his self control to remain absolutely still, braced on his forearms.

She nodded. "I feel… full." She laughed softly. He dropped his mouth to hers and waited for her to get use to the size of him.

Tentatively, he felt her move. It was all the encouragement he needed. Slowly at first, they found their rhythm, and then the pace increased. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck, panting in his ear, moaning as her climax built.

As he stroked inside her, he made sure he hit her clit. Before long, he felt her tremors. Bella gasped, moaned and then climaxed spectacularly, her walls contracting and releasing around him. He pumped once, twice and with a groan followed her.

He didn't remember ever coming that violently before. _Oh yeah, he was in trouble._

As they lay on the floor, she instinctively curled into him when he laid down beside her, sighing softly.

"Love you." he thinks he hears her say. When he looks down he sees that she is fast asleep.

"Love you..." he whispers to her.

* * *

Gemma and Tara wait at the garage.

They come out from the office to greet the men when they hear the van come onto the lot.

As Clay and Jax emerge from the van, they see the cuts and bruises on their faces.

They watch as Clay and the others do a slow march to the Clubhouse while Jax heads to the garage... alone.


	9. Chapter 9

"I finished it." Tara says placing the manuscript on the table next to Jax. He glances at her out the corner of his eye.

"You keep saying that you want to change things but you do the same thing that you've always done. You can't have it both ways." she says sitting down.

"Is there anything you love more than anything that you would do anything to protect it, no mater what the cost or what it did to you?" he asks her staring her in the eye.

She just looks at him, unsure how to answer.

"Really nothing. Well, that's how I feel about this club. Ever since I could walk all I wanted was a Harley and a kutte. Change is not going to happen overnight or without blood." he stands up and puts his kutte on, "It will happen though."

He grabs the rest of his stuff and leaves her staring after him.

* * *

She stirs when she feels him tracing the bullet shells on her lower back. She smiles when he kisses the back of her neck.

"I'm awake." she says softly.

"I know." he says and she can feel him smile against her skin.

She turns over and looks at him. Slowly, she raises a hand and starts tracing his face. "You okay?" she asks softly.

"Yeah...for the first time in a long time, I'm good." he says running a hand down her body, stopping to rest on her hip. She instinctively curls her leg around his hip, bringing their naked bodies closer. He lowers his head and softly starts kissing her. He moves so that he is lying between her legs when his phone starts going off just as they hear Kenny yelling that someone is at the door.

He growls as he drops his head on her shoulder. She laughs softly.

"I'm gonna kill whoever that is." he growls out moving off of her to grab his phone. She gets out of the bed and grabs one of his shirts off the nearby chair and slips it on as he answers his phone. "What?" he growls as she slips out of the room.

"Bella...someone is at the door, should I open it?" Kenny calls out when he sees her.

"I got it kiddo. Go see if your sister is awake and I'll make us some breakfast." she says ruffling his hair. She looks out the peephole and laughs softly when she sees who it is.

"Hi." Embry says when she opens the door.

"Enjoy the bed last night?" she asks turning to have him follow her.

"Yeah...you enjoy losing it last night?" he says softly to her.

"Damn wolf senses." she mutters entering the kitchen and opening the fridge.

"Baby sis, I don't need a good nose to tell that you are wearing his shirt with nothing underneath it or the fact that the house smells like sex." he laughs at her as she places bread and eggs on the counter.

Rolling her eyes, "Why are you here?" she asks not turning as she gets out everything to make french toast.

"Gemma wants to do a dinner tonight, with everyone." he says watching her start to cook and tries not to drool.

"Okay, why didn't she just text me?" she says looking at him over her shoulder.

He shrugs as Opie comes into the kitchen in his jeans and pulling a shirt on.

"That was Bobby, wants to see me and the rest of the guys at the clubhouse. ASAP." he says coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"You have time to eat?" she asks leaning back against him.

"No...wish I did though." he says honestly. "You okay?" he whispers to her, dropping his hand down to rest on her thigh.

"Yeah, sore but a good sore." she whispers back to him, nipping at his under jaw.

Embry sees this and knows that he is going to be letting the pack see that their sister has finally found her mate.

"Okay, see you later." he says reluctantly moving away from her.

"The kids and I will meet you at Gemma's." she tells him turning around to face him.

"Huh?" he asks.

"Gemma wants to do a dinner tonight. I'm here to let Bella and you know plus I was dropping a few days worth of clothes off for Bella since all she had was what she wore yesterday.

"Too bad, I like you in my clothes." he says dropping a kiss on her mouth before going to say goodbye to his kids.

"What?" she asks looking at Embry.

"Nothing, you look at each other the same way imprints look at each other." he says with a smile.

She smiles at that, blushing slightly when Opie comes back into the room, the kids not that far behind him to give her another kiss before he heads out.

"Bella?" Kenny asks sitting down next to Embry.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Are you and my dad boyfriend and girlfriend now?" Kenny asks looking at Ellie who was staring at Bella hopeful.

"Is it okay if we are?" she asks looking at the two kids she has grown to love.

They both nod and she smiles. "Yeah, we are."

Exchanging smiles and high fives, the two of them head back into the living room and wait for her to finish cooking.

They are sitting down to eat and trying to figure out what they are going to do for the day when her phone starts ringing.

It's Luann, who is upset and needing her down at the Caracara.

Embry offers to take the kids to Neeta after she calls her to make sure she can handle two extra kids.

Once they leave, she grabs some clothes from the bags that Bry brought her, takes a quick shower and heads out herself.

* * *

"What did you tell Stahl?" Jax demands standing in front of Hale.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit!"

"Stahl is here looking into a supplier. Not digging into SAMCRO." Hale says fixing the things on his desk.

"I know that we are not going to be on the same side but you have to know that Zobelle and that ATF bitch don't belong in Charming."

Hale takes a deep breath, "You were right about Zobelle never making mistakes. He's protected."

He scoffs, "Fucking figures. ATF can't touch the League."

"FBI's looking into white hate."

"So that's why that bitch needs us." he mutters.

"Now why would Stahl need SAMCRO. Seeing how you're just mechanics."

"Look at the big picture." he says leaving as his phone starts going off with text messages.

* * *

"Oh... I did not need to see that." He says walking into the clubhouse to find Half-Sac with his pants down, his dick on display.

"Showing off the new ball." Bobby says moving away from the bar to sit down.

"Congrats." he says to Sac and follows Bobby to sit down.

"What's up with you." Happy asks looking at him. "You seem...less grumpy..You got laid." he exclaims pointing at the smirk on his face.

He looks down, the smirk turning into a smile.

"Shit..you and...Bella." Half-Sac asks.

"Now you know why I really didn't want to leave me house this morning. She was making breakfast in just my shirt when I left."

"Good for you, brother. You're good together." Bobby says.

"Clay's gonna kill you...after Gemma if you fuck it up. You know that right?" Tig tells him.

He nods.

"So, what's up?" Half-Sac asks looking at Bobby.

"We need to figure out this thing between Clay and Jax." Bobby says. "Shit's been brewing for months, since Donna and it exploded at county."

"You think their beef has something to do with Donna?" he asked sitting up straighter.

"Nay...it's been going long before that." Tig tells them.

"What do you think they're fighting about?" Sax asks.

"Jax pushing for change." he says even though a small part of him agrees that things need to change.

"That kind of shit is good for us, keeps us current. What's between them is worse..and if it keeps going, it's going to hurt us worse than Zobelle or ATF. We need to get at the truth."

"I can talk to Jax." he says.

"You sure he'll tell you anything. The two of you have been bumping heads and with you banging his cousin..." Happy says.

"If he doesn't talk to me, you know he'll talk to Bella." he tells them.

"That'll work. Tigger, you need to talk with Clay. We need to find out what's going on. We'll bring it..."

Noticing Jax coming in, he gives him a nod causing Bobby to stop talking.

"Hey, what's up?" Jax says looking at all of them.

"Just downloading these two numbskulls." Bobby says.

"And his swollen nut." Tig says.

Jax just laughs, "Welcome back, Full-Sac." he jokes.

Sac just rolls his eyes.

"Chinese called. Want a sit down. I gotta head to Caracara. Clay around?" he asks looking around the clubhouse.

* * *

She has to pull over when her phone starts ringing. It's Lyla and she is freaking out.

* * *

Jax gets to the warehouse to find Bella and Luanne trying to calm down one of the girls.

"What happened?" he asks coming over to them.

"I got her." Luann says softly.

She nods her head at him, and he follows her inside. "Someone broke in. They stole one of the HD cameras and Luann's laptop."

"Fuck..okay. We can replace the camera." he starts.

"The problem, the laptop had some rough cuts on it."

He growls, "What happened to the guard dog that I bought?" he asks not sure he's going to like the answer.

"Over there. Once was enough." she says, wrapping he arms around her waist.

He finds the dog, gutted. 'Dead Bitch' is written on one of the dressing room doors above the dog. He looks and notices a bloody hand print is also on one of the office doors as well.

"Who's room?" he asks as Luann join him and Bella.

"Lyla. She's barely holding on, she finally decided to go clean. For Piper."

"Dammit." she mutters. She turns and looks at the office door that had been marked as well.

"Don't think no one noticed that the room you use to talk with the girls was marked as well." Luann said wrapping an arm around Bella's waist.

"What?" he snarled.

"Bella has been coming after school, to work with a few of the girls that are trying to get their GED."

Grabbing his phone, he leaves his cousin alone for a moment.

* * *

"Hey brother, what's going on?" Opie asks answering when Clay and Tig come out of the restaurant with Chuck.

"Need you at Caracara, brother." Jax tells him. "Someone broke in and stole a camera and laptop."

"Alright."

"The asshole also gutted the guard dog. Wrote dead bitch on one of the girls dressing rooms and left a bloody hand print on the office that Bella uses when she's here."

"I'll be there in a few." he growls turning to look at Clay.

"What's up?" Clay asks.

"Jax needs my help with something." he says not telling him what Jax had told him.

"I'm gonna need you guys. You stay available." Clay says as he turns to the van. "Take Chucky." Tig says pushing him towars the van.

Chuck quickly goes over to the van.

With a glare at Tig and Clay, he helps Chuck get into the van.

* * *

When Bobby gets there, he instantly heads to his office to check and make sure all the books are still there. When Opie gets there Bella instantly heads over to him, he wraps his arms around her and just holds her watching Jax talk with Bobby.

"That dog was four grand. That shit is wrong on so many levels." Jax says nodding to the now covered dog.

"The camera was worth at least ten grand." Luann says watching Opie comfort Bella.

"Camera's insured. Those rough cuts are worth so much more." Bobby says.

"Has to be Georgie since the cuts were taken?" Jax asks turning to see what Bobby and Luann are looking at, to see his best friend kissing his baby cousin.

"About time that boy got his head out of his ass to see how much that girl cares about him." Luann said feeling like a proud momma.

Opie kisses her one more time, before leaving her to help Lyla and joins the others.

"She okay?" Jax asks.

"Pissed and scared. She's gonna stay here for a bit before heading over to get the kids from Neeta. We know who did this shit?"

"Has to be Caruso." Bobby says.

"Let's go." he says and turns to leave.

"Alright, Jax what time does Gemma want everyone there?" Luann asks.

"Around eight."

Luann nods and heads over to Lyla and Bella.

"Why don't you come to dinner tonight?" Bella says softly to Lyla. "It will let Piper spend some time with Ellie and Kenny, also you'll be surrounded by the club."

"You can come with me. Be my date." Luann says kneeling in front of her.

Lyla nods.

"I'll pick Piper up on my way. Save you a trip. Now you have a scene to do, you up to it?" she asks softly standing next to Luann.

Lyla wipes the tears from her eyes and nods.

* * *

"Gemma, seriously wants to have a dinner, now?" Bobby says as they head outside.

"Sounds like a good idea."

"So...you and Bella?" Jax asks trying not to sound annoyed that he didn't see it.

"Yeah...gonna be a problem for you?" Opie asks turning to look at him.

"Nay, she'll kick your ass if you fuck up. I'll just help her hide the body. It's all good man, the two of you work." he says leaving the warehouse.

"Shit...I forgot." Opie mutters when they see Chucky waiting by the van. "A gift from the Chinese. Tig figures he can do the Caracara books." Chucky waves showing his chopped hands.

"They chopped them off." Jax says seeing that Chuck only has two fingers.

Chuck just nods.

"That mean you can't?" Bobby asks jerking his hand.

"Yes, masturbation is impossible."

"That's gotta royally suck." Jax mutters as he gets into the van.

"I wanted to thank you. Lin has been out of his mind." Chuck says getting in.

"Why?" Bobby asks sitting down next to him.

"He's been losing his turf to the Mexicans. They've taken over everything south of Water Street. It's why he needs the firepower."

"Alright, when we're done with Georgie will check in with Laroy." Jax says as Opie starts the van.

* * *

"Hey, how's he doing?" she asks when she bumps into Tara at the hospital. She had decided to check in on Chibs before she grabbed the kids.

"Let's see." Tara says as the enter the room.

Gemma is standing there glaring at a very pretty woman.

"Dr. Knowles, Bella. Fiona Larkin." Gemma says introducing them.

Ignoring them, she sits down on the bed next to Chibs. She remembers the name but not sure why.

"Nice to meet you but I'm sorry, ICU is for immediate family only." Tara tells Fiona.

"She is family." Gemma begins to explain.

"Get out." she says standing staring at Fiona, understanding finally clicking in.

"Bella?" Tara says looking at her in concern.

"She's his wife, the one that fucked him over more than once. Get out." she says glaring at the woman.

Gemma just smiles as Fiona glares at the young woman standing next to her husband.

* * *

Once the security guy leaves chasing after Chuck. He, Jax and Bobby stroll right in and head right for Georgie. Georgie tries to pull his gun but he knocks him to the ground and places his boot right on his throat.

"How's that feel?" he snarls thinking about the bloody hand-print on the door of the office that his girlfriend uses to help the girls. The gutted dog and 'dead bitch' written to scare all the girls. The door opens and Bobby quickly holds his gun on Georgie's security guy.

"Give us the camera before my boy crushes your boss' throat." Jax snarls.

"Give it to 'em." Georgie rasps out.

Slowly the man leaves with Bobby right behind him.

Seeing the two laptops on the desk, Jax heads over to them. "This one is ours." he says unplugging the laptop. Smirking he picks up Georgie's laptop.

"That one's mine!" Georgie tries to yell as Jax drops it into the fish-tank.

"That's for the dog. You psycho piece of shit." Jax snarls as he removes his foot, still standing over Georgie.

"You idiots really think you can crash in here and take stuff from me?! You got no idea who you are messing with..." Georgie yells.

He grabs Georgie by the throat, snarling, "No. You fucked up when you threatened my girl."

"Which one? The whore or the teacher?" Georgie rasps.

"Stay away from Bella. You touch or think about her and I will kill you." he says slamming him down so his head makes a loud crack when he hits the floor.

The three of them walk out, not seeing the murderous glare on Georgie's face.

* * *

She follows Tara and Gemma out of Chibs' room. Fiona stalking away in front of them.

"I didn't know Chibs was married." Tara says looking at her and Gemma.

"They just never got divorced." Gemma says. "How did you know about her sweetie?" she asks pulling her close.

"Had a little talk a while back about family and he told me that he had a wife that ripped his heart out more than once."

"Wow." Tara said staring after the woman.

"That woman is one of three that scare me. How's Chibs doing with his insurance?" Gemma asks changing the subject.

"Once he's out of critical, they're going transfer him to county."

"That can't happen. Not with that Irish bitch around." Gemma tells her.

"I can't do anything." she motions to an older woman at the nurses station, "See that woman? She's Margaret Murphy, chief administrator. She has been watching my ass since she got here. I do anything and she'll be all over it."

Tara leaves them standing there.

"I'll meet you at the house." she says and heads to the stairs when she sees Margaret head for the elevator.

* * *

Jax and Opie drop by Laroy's club, but in back they're surprised to walk into a group of Mayans who quickly disarm them and have guns against their heads.

* * *

She sits on a blanket at the park, watching Kenny, Ellie and Piper run around.

"Getting rid of some energy?" Embry asks sitting down next to her.

"Yeah." she says softly.

"Should I see if some more of the guys can come down?" he asks, worried.

"No..I think I'm going to distance myself from the Caracara for a little bit. Going to work with the girls at the clubhouse. A little safer." she says smiling at the kids.

"The blond, that's Lyla's kid?" he asks not sure if he got the name right.

"Yeah, she and Luann are going to work right until they have to leave for the dinner. I offered to have him with me so he could have some fun with Kenny and Ellie and give her plenty of time to calm down."

"You know, you are going to be a great mom." he says honestly.

"You think?" she whispers.

He just smiles and throws his arm over her shoulders, "You are already one."

She laughs, smiling watching 'her' kids.

* * *

"We probably should have called first." Bobby snarks. They are sitting in one of the booths with Mayan guns trained on them. Jax and Opie nod as all their phones start going off on the table.

"Clay. Wondering where the hell we are." Opie says. "Heard about county."

Jax scoffs.

"We always use to be able to talk about this shit." he tries again.

"Not lately." Jax says glaring at the guy with his gun on him.

"It got anything to do with this beef you and Clay got going on? If I knew what was going on..."

"Change, brother and keeping things contained." Jax says.

"What?" he asks slightly confused. Bobby looks confused as well.

"You keep getting deeper in with Clay. If it wasn't for Bells...I would think that I'm losing all my friends." Jax tells him honestly.

What he was going to say is cut off when Alvarez enters the backroom.

"Laroy don't live here anymore, _ese_." Alvarez tells them.

"We can see that. Interesting Russian hardware." he says mentioning the guns.

Alvarez just smirks at them.

"Hate to cut this short but my ma is expecting us for dinner." Jax says.

"Send Clay a message. That bullshit truce is done. Mayans are no friends of the Sons." Alvarez motion to a few of his crew. "Get them out of here..and take their kutts."

"That ain't happening." Jax growls out.

Alvarez comes over and places the barrel of his gun to his temple.

"Do it. It's the only this is coming off my back." Jax growls at him, refusing to back down.

Alvarez says the next time any Son walks into Mayan territory, they aren't walking out and leaves.

* * *

She's having Ellie help cut vegetables and fruit to snack on as Gemma takes the roast out of the oven.

"Thought you were bringing the salad." she says to Tara when she storms in.

Tara ignores her and heads right to Gemma.

"You know what this is?" she says holding out a sheet of paper.

"Paper." Ellie says proud of herself.

"Go find your brother and Piper." she says steering her out of the kitchen. She catches Bry's eye and he quickly gets her out of the room.

Breathing deeply, "This is a hostile work environment claim. Filed by Margaret Murphy against me and my proxy." Tara says glaring at Gemma.

Gemma scoffs, "Pussy."

"You threatened her." Tara says trying to not raise her voice.

"No, I just had a passionate conversation with her in the elevator." Gemma tells her.

"This is my job!" Tara yells. "Do you know how long and hard I have worked to get where I am?!"

"Tara. Calm down." she says stepping between the two of them.

"This..." holding up the claim, "Could cost me my livelihood! My life is my life. Stay out of it." Tara growls at Gemma and stalks off.

"Aunt Gem..." she says turning to look at her. "I know your heart was in the right place but Tara's not you."

"I know, sweetie. I'll give her a few days and try to smooth things over."

* * *

"Here we go." Jax mutters as he, Opie and Bobby pull into the driveway.

"There you guys are." she says coming out of the house as they get close to the door. Opie pulls her to him, she instantly curls into his side. "Tara is in a mood." she says glancing at Jax.

"Dammit." Jax says entering the house. Bobby right behind him.

"Things handled?" she asks looking up at him.

"Yeah." he says dropping his head and kissing her softly.

"Come on, before I forget that we are suppose to be having a dinner." she says with a smile on her face and start to pull him inside.

"Wait...I know we haven't figured everything out but..."

"Harry..." she smiles softly at him, "You are my boyfriend and I'm your girlfriend. We'll figure out everything else as we go along."

He smiles and nods, dropping one more kiss on her mouth before following her inside.

Embry holds out a beer to him, he follows her, his hands on her shoulders as Gemma starts placing food on the table.

"You okay?" Jax asks Tara, coming to stand next to her as they watch his ma place food on the table.

"I don't know. Can we talk about it at home?" Tara asks.

Jax nods and places a kiss on her head.

"Alright everyone, let's sit down." Gemma calls all of them to the table. They are in the process of sitting down when Clay and the others walk in, pissed.

"Where the hell were you three?! I got two guys in the hospital and you decide to forget how to use a phone?!" Clay yells.

Bella and Embry quickly get the kids stand and sends them out of the room.

"We were in our own shit." Bobby tells them trying to calm everyone down.

"We almost got killed trying to get our guns back." Tig snarls.

"Not here, man." Bobby starts. "Club business."

That seems to set things off and the boys go after each other.

"Ummm, sorry to interrupt." Hale says making his presence known.

"What are you doing here, Hale?" she says not liking the look on his face.

"I figure this would be better coming from me. We found Luann Delaney's car off county eighteen. She and her passenger were beaten badly. Luann is on her way to St. Thomas, unconscious. Her passenger a Lyla.."

"Oh god..." she whimpers sitting down. Opie comes over and rests his hands on her shoulders.

"She didn't make it. I'm sorry." Hale says before leaving the same way he came in.

"Is this your fault?" Clay asks looking at Jax.

"It's not their fault." she whimpers out.

None of them seem to hear her and once again go after each other.

Gemma picks up the serving platter and drops it onto the table where it shatters, getting everyone's attention.

They stop shouting at each other and everybody stands quiet.


	10. Chapter 10

"She okay?" Otto asks Jax when he finishes telling him everything that has happened over the last few days.

"Awake...sore. They want to keep her for a while due to her being kicked in the head numerous times." he answers honestly.

"Who?" Otto growls, tightening his fist. "Also why am I only finding about this now?"

"She doesn't remember who ran her off the road or attacked her and Lyla. I think that it was that scumbag producer, Caruso." he tells him. "Bella wanted to come up and tell you the next day but everything with Piper slowed us down, also we were hoping to give you good news."

"Why would Caruso do this?" Otto asked slightly confused.

"We've roughed him up a couple times. The day it happened was the most recent, sick fucker had gutted a dog, leaving it for the girls to find and stole some of the equipment."

Otto just shakes his head.

"What's going with Lyla's kid? I know she didn't have any family."

"Let's just say my cousin is a miracle worker."

* * *

"You have no idea how good that sounds." Clay said into his phone.

He and Bobby stand waiting as Clay hangs up and rejoins them.

"That was Rosen." Clay tells them.

"What's going on with the charges?" Bobby asks.

"Seems the quality of that video is crap. He's gonna work on havin' it tossed and a good amount of the families don't want to get involved." Clay says with a grin.

"That should slow down the DA." he mutters.

"Yeah...you know with everything goin' on you and I haven't had a chance to sit down." Clay says glaring at him slightly.

Bobby glances between the two of them.

"You mean about Bella and I seeing each other?" he asks.

"Gentlemen." Lin says as he joins them. "Let's sit." he says motioning to a table that they can sit at.

Clay and Bobby sit across from Lin while he stays standing behind them.

"Seems there was a little problem getting your guns. ATF's got eyes on my supplier." Clay says.

"That's not what I wanted to hear today." Lin replies.

"There a way I can make it up to you? You said that your source is having INS issues. Maybe I can be of some help."

"What's in it for you?"

"It's no secret that you're losing your hold in certain areas. You need guns, I need a new pipeline."

Lin seems to think it over for a minute before nodding, "My guy got detained in Oakland. Seems there is new security. Passport got flagged as bogus. He's claiming technical error."

"If INS digs?"

"Guns head straight back to Hamas. Hearing is tomorrow morning."

"Your crew couldn't change the judge's mind?" Bobby asks.

Lin scoffs, "My boys show up and the judge don't spook, they start digging into Mahmoud's Asain contacts..."

"A bunch of white boys twist the judge's arm." Clay says letting the sentance fall.

Lin smiles and shrugs.

"We do this..you make sure that pipeline opens to the Sons." Bobby says as he and Clay stand up.

Lin shakes both of their hands, "We'll be in your debt."

* * *

She sits on Luann's bed, fixing the nail polish on Luann's nails.

Piper, Kenny and Ellie are sitting in the corner working on their school work. She took all of them out of school and let the school know that she was taking leave. The school seemed happy about seeing her go. _Doubt they'll be wanting me to come back when things calm down._

"How's the little one doing?" Luann rasps out, looking at Piper. The bruising on her face still dark and horrid looking.

"Been better. He knows that his mommy isn't coming home, Kenny told him not to worry, that his mom was taking care of her." she says softly.

"He staying with you or...?"

"With me and Ope." she says closing the nail polish. "You and the club were the only family that Lyla had."

"Hey...Bells..." Embry says entering the room.

"Bry!" Ellie says getting up and going over to hug him.

"Hey kiddo..." he says hugging the little girl.

"What's going on?" she asks seeing the look on his face.

"Unser just called, seems we switched phones this morning at breakfast. Seems Ima got picked up." he tells her quietly, giving her phone to her.

"What did that hooker do now?" Luann growls roughly.

"Funny you should say hooker." Embry says.

She smiles, "Finally. She broke her contract. I can fire her." she says placing the bottle of nail polish on the side table.

"Bella, she's a money maker especially since ..." Luann says as she stands up.

"Maybe but not worth the headache. Gonna head over to Caracara and get her last check. You got my kids?" she asks looking at Embry.

He nods with a smile as she kneels down in front of the three kids.

"I need to go do something real quick. You guys mind watching Bry, make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." she says softly.

The three of them nod and each give her a hug. She goes over to Luann and kisses her check before leaving.

Luann laughs softly when the door closes behind her. "How long do you think it will be before she figures out that she called all three of them her kids?" she asks Embry as he sits down next to her feet.

"She knows." he says with a smirk.

* * *

"We interrupting?" Tig says as the two of them walk into the room to see Bobby and Clay looking pissed.

"Nay...what we got?" Clay says looking at the folder in his hands.

Tig takes the folder out of his hands, "Judge is small time. Close to retirement. Lives by himself in a cushy little suburb. Has a son at Berkeley."

"There's the leverage we need." Clay says with a smirk. "Threaten the kid."

He and Tig nod in understanding.

"Now...I've arranged a little hardware test. You'll be doing that." Clay says pointing at Tig.

"Wait..what? Who...who's gonna do the judge?"

"Bobby and Ope. Take Happy with you." Clay says as if that is the end of the discussion.

"Bullshit." Tig exclaims.

Glaring at Tig, "Give us a few."

He and Bobby leave the room making sure to close the door behind them.

"You gonna be able to handle the judge?" Bobby asks.

"Yeah." he says hoping that he's right.

"How are things with you and Bella?" Bobby asks sitting down, eating some of the food that he has.

He smiles, "Good. Real good... She's moved in. Kids love her. She gets the club, what more could a guy ask for."

Bobby just smiles shaking his head.

* * *

She runs to Caracara and has Chucky cut Ima a final check and also has him get her a copy of Ima's contract to prove to Ima that she broke it.

The other girls are working on the cams to keep money coming in until Luann gets out of the hospital and can start directing again.

She lets the girls know not to over do it and for each of them to text her or Jax to let them know that they got home safe. If they need a safe ride, she wants them to call Half-Sac, Happy or Bobby to get one. Until they know for sure that Georgie was the one behind Luann and Lyla's attack, she wasn't taking any chances with any of the other girls.

* * *

"How's Otto?" Chibs asks.

"The same as us, thankful that his woman is okay and pissed that there is a motherless child."

"At least the kid has Bella. She actually called her father the pull any strings he could to make sure that Piper stayed with her." Half-Sac said with a grin.

"What?" Chibs asks looking at the two of them.

"Bella's old man called Unser within an hour of Hale telling us that Piper would be going into the system and went off. Man told 'em that Lyla was his niece and since Bella was her cousin, Piper should stay with her." Jax said with a grin.

"This guy is a cop? A clean cop?" Chibs asks looking at Jax for conformation.

Jax nods. "Dude understands family. Bella had to talk him out of taking a leave of absence to come out here. His wife was ready to come down and take custody of Piper if that was what was needed to keep him with family."

"I think I would like this guy...We know anything?"

Jax scoffs, "Seems Georgie and his crew have left the country. Left for Thailand a few hours after Hale found Luann and Lyla."

Chibs thinks about something for a moment, "Take a lap." he tells Half-Sac.

At Jax's nod, he leaves the room.

"What's up?" he asks.

"Fiona was here." Chibs tells him.

"Shit. When?"

"A few days ago. Seems my kid found out about the accident. She came to make sure I was okay."

"Jimmy with her?"

"Didn't see 'em but..that man wouldn't let her travel by herself."

"When I was at county, Stahl showed me some photos. Of Zobelle with Cameron. Bitch wanted me to sell out IRA."

"He selling to Zobelle?"

"Confrimed it. We don't have the Irish any longer."

"Jimmy is gonna be beyond pissed and I know he will find a way to blame me for it."

Tara comes in.

"Hey boys." she says coming over to Jax and kissing him softly. "Unser is looking for you."

He nods, "We'll handle it." he tells Chibs before leaving the room.

"Okay...I just talked to your doctor. Looks like we'll be taking you off the critical list. So you'll be able to go home in about a week."

"Thanks for looking out for me doc." Chibs says closing his eyes for a moment.

"Did you know that your insurance lapsed?" Tara asked.

"Yeah, seems I aged to the un-affordable."

Taking a deep breath, "Bad news, you'll need to be transferred to Stockton Memorial to finish your recuperation."

"No..give me a few more days, please." Chibs said his voice wavering with nervousness.

"It's policy..." Tara starts.

"Then I'll finish at home. There is no way in hell I am going to be lying on my back unprotected."

* * *

Jax leaves the room and finds Unser down the hall.

"You were looking for me?" he asks.

"This morning we ran a sting. Prostitution out at Logger Point Motel."

"Hookers? In Charming?"

"Well hookers and one of your girls. Ima, I believe her name is."

"That stupid bitch. Luann is going to fire her ass if Bella doesn't beat her again." he mutters.

"Well, she wants to talk to her boss." Unser tells him.

He nods and as they pass the chapel, he notices his mom praying.

"You okay?" he asks her entering the chapel.

Gemma gets startled to see them, "Yeah..I'm okay."

"You see Luann?" he asks.

"On my way. Any news?" she asks Unser.

"Right now, we have nothing. Hopefully Luann will remember something that will help."

He nods and gives his mom a side hug before heading out, knowing that something is up with his mom and she's not telling him.

* * *

He gets to the police station just as Bella is getting out of her truck.

"Guess I wasn't the only one that was told." he says joining her.

"Would have been here sooner but had to stop to get the little..get her contract and final check." she says with a smirk, showing him an envelope.

He laughs and follows her in. They wait as someone unlocks Ima's cell and she comes forward.

"Want to explain this shit." Jax growls while she stands behind him, keeping the envelope hidden for the moment.

"Some guy called and offered me ten grande to help out Darby. Wanted to make it look like Darby had high-class pussy." Ima says like it would explain everything.

"You didn't think to call me or Bella before you went."

"What was the point, it was two days work and we're not filming." Ima says rolling her eyes and refuses to look either of them in the eye.

"Here." she says holding out the envelope.

"What's this?" Ima asks opening it up.

"That would be the contract that you signed. It states that if you get picked up for hooking or anything of that nature while under contract, even if we are filming or not. You will be let go immediately. That is the final check you will ever get from Caracara." she says and leaves Ima alone with Jax.

"She can't do this. She's not the boss. You and Luann are." Ima tries to say.

"She can. Luann, Bella and I were your boss." he says and turns to leave.

"You're just going to leave me here." Ima says grabbing his arm in shock.

He pulls his arm out of her grasp. "Yup." he says and walks away.

He catches Bella at her truck outside.

"Need a cigarette." he says seeing the pleased smile on her face.

"Nope. I am going to head over to the garage to see Opie for a little bit then go collect my kids and enjoy the rest of the day with them." she says opening the truck door.

"How's Piper doing? Honestly." he asks stopping her from getting in.

"Missing his mom. He gets that she's gone, he wants Opie to make that person pay. Ope promised that when he finds him he'll make sure he never does something like this again. I actually had to talk my dad and others out of going to Thailand to find Georgie."

"Georgie is in for a rude awakening if he dares to return to Charming." he tells her.

She gives him a quick hug and gets into her truck and drives off.

* * *

He gets to the garage to find Bobby waiting for him before he even gets off his bike. He watches as Bella joins them.

"What's up?" he asks seeing Bobby's face.

"Clay heard about Ima being picked up and wants us to pull back from Caracara." Bobby tells them.

"Luann and the girls need protection." Bella tries to argue.

"He said he'll give me time to help Luann find new help but he wants the club out of porn." Bobby tries to tell them.

"This is bullshit. Someone offered Ima ten grande to work for Darby. Do you think Clay would have done that to try to get us out?" he asks.

"No, he wouldn't do that...right?" she asks looking at Bobby as Jax heads inside.

"Right now, I'm not sure what either of them is going to do." Bobby says as the two of them rush after him.

"We need the Caracara." Jax seethes when he finds Clay and Tig.

Bella, Bobby and the others come in right behind him.

"Uncle Clay..." she says softly.

"Guns are back online. We've got a new source. Time to get our heads out of pussy." Clay says.

"We need to think beyond this bullshit between the two of us..." Jax starts.

"Porn is legitimate money. It will get and keep ATF off your back." Bella says coming in to stand next to Jax, having a feeling of where he was going.

"So will auto repair." Clay tries to justify.

"Just think before you kill it completely. How do you think Otto is going to take it knowing you're pulling Luann's support while she's in the hospital." she says. Clay has the common sense to look contrite.

"She's right, we've lost more than we earned with guns in the last few years." Jax says.

"That'll change." Tig says jumping into the conversation.

"Are you even sure this new source is legit?" Jax asks.

"SAMCRO deals guns." Clay states.

Thinking on her feet, "You need a majority vote to pull back from Caracara. Put it to a vote."

Clay nods, "Fine. Tomorrow night."

"I can deal with that." Jax says walking out of the room.

"When did you get so smart?" Clay asks sitting on the table.

"Day I was born. Oh, and the chick that got picked up got fired, every girl's contract states that if they get pick up for solicitation, they are let go. SAMCRO might deal guns but pussy brings in more money." she says with a grin and walks out. She can hear Tig breakdown laughing as she leaves.

Opie pulls her to him when she passes him.

"Hey you." he says kissing her.

"Hey." she says when he lets her breath. "Any idea what time you'll be home tonight?"

He frowns, "Need to do something for the club. Not sure how long it's going to take."

"Okay, you'll be careful, right?"

"Bobby and Happy will be with me."

She nods and allows him to pull her into a empty room, she closes the door behind her with a smile.

* * *

"Clay knows he's not gonna get majority." Bobby tells him as he joins him outside.

"I know, those boys love their porn." he says with a smile.

"Bella...sometimes I think she has a little Teller in her. Other times I see the Morrow. She's smart and deadly." Bobby says.

"And Ope is tapping her. Always knew he was a little crazy." he says with a laugh.

Tig comes out of the building and joins them, "We need to talk."

"What?"

"Alone." Tig says looking at Bobby.

"Whatever you got to say, Bobby can hear."

"It's Opie. Clay has him on point for this judge thing. If this goes wrong and he has to go down that road..." Tig leaves the sentence unfinished.

"What do you propose?" he asks with a slight growl, part of him knowing Tig is only saying this because he doesn't want to lose his spot as Clay's trigger man.

"You and I both know that his world is just starting to get right side up. I'll show up after I check the guns and work the judge, this way we keep Ope light."

"Okay, I'll go too. Make sure he doesn't go over the edge."

"Alright, I'll meet you at the judge's house." Tig tells him walking away.

He takes a drag of his cigarette trying to figure things out.

"I'll let Hap know that he's not needed." Bobby says leaving him sitting there.

* * *

She pulls her shirt on as he pulls his pants back on. _Who knew quickies were so much fun._

"What are you and the kids gonna do for the rest of the day?" he asks coming up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.

"Gonna pick them up, maybe go to the park for a little while." she says leaning into his embrace.

"Stay safe." he says kissing her neck.

She turns in his arms, "Come home to me." she says raising up to kiss him.

"Always." he tells her softly.

She grabs her bag and leaves after one more kiss.

He finishes getting ready.

He gets to the van and is surprised to find Jax there instead of Hap. "Where's Hap?"

"Don't worry. Clay knows." Bobby says from the drivers seat.

"Following Clay's lead. Working on getting back into guns."

He nods and gets into the van.

* * *

Tara walks away from her co-workers when she notices Gemma.

"Hey." Gemma says when she joins her. "Wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Tara nods, "Thanks..." she lowers her head confused and torn. "I had to tell Chibs that he was going to be transferred and he freaked."

"He did just get blown up."

"I know..."

"You do what you need to do and we'll figure out a way to keep him protected."

"God, Gemma when does this stop?" Tara cries out slightly, emotional stressed.

"I don't know, baby. I just don't know." Gemma says pulling her into a hug.

* * *

Parked on a suburban side street, they watch as Judge Franklin returns home.

Putting on their masks, they grab the judge as he is getting out of his car and take him into the house.

"Take what you want...and get out." the judge tells them as they tie him to a chair.

"We're not here to rob you." he growls out. "We're here about a little problem."

Hearing something, Jax leaves the room and returns with Tig holding a kid at gun point.

Bobby grabs a chair and Tig maneuvers the kid into it.

"Is this you, Alex?" the judge demands.

"What are you talking about?" the kid, Alex cries out as Jax and Tig tie him up.

"You low life junkie piece of shit." the judge say spitting at his son.

"So much for emotional leverage." Jax and Bobby mutter as he stares at the judge and his son.

The four of them move out of the judge's view as they try to figure out what to do now.

"No matter how pissed he is, he's not going to let us hurt his kid. No dad would do that." he says heading over to stand in front of the judge.

"Mahmoud Sakairi. He has a deportation hearing tomorrow morning." he begins, "Dismiss it and everyone walks away whole."

"Twenty three years, I've never been swayed. Not going to start now." the judge says determination on his face.

He scoffs, "How about I clear this up for you?" he takes out his gun and points it at Alex, "Throw out the case or I'll cut your family in half."

"No." the judge says.

Jax and Tig just shake their heads at this guy.

Swallowing, "I'll beat him, break every bone in his body then kill him."

"Dad...please just do what he wants!" Alex begs his father.

"Man up. He's not going to kill you." the judge scoffs.

Infuriated he starts hitting the kid, knowing a father would stop him.

The judge just looks on not saying a word.

He points his gun at the floor and shoots at the kid's foot.

Alex starts screaming and crying, seeing his foot bleeding.

Jax pulls him away. "Are you crazy? **YOU** can not put holes in this kid." Jax tells him.

"I just winged his toe. I don't care how bad blood is, no father is going to allow his son to be killed in front of him." he says moving out of Jax's hold and going back to stand in front of the judge. He moves the kid so that he is right in front of him, tears running down his face. "The toe, oh it stings. The knee.." he says pressing his gun to the knee, "That's gonna make him wish he was dead."

"If you're going to kill him, do it. I refuse to give you what you want." the judge tells them.

He pushes the chair that the kid is in to the floor, in complete revulsion that a father would allow this. "You want this?" he snarls.

"Dad! Please! No! NO!" Alex cries out as he stands over him and sticks his gun into the kid's mouth.

"You're going to let me kill your son? That's how you protect your family? Your god damn pride more important to you than him?" he yells as the judge looks on before closing his eyes. "Open your eyes, you piece of shit?!" Tig grabs the judges face and tries to force him to keep watching. "This is on you!"

Seeing that Tig is unable to get the judge's eyes to open and at a moment of clarity, he pulls the gun out of the kid's mouth and shoots the floor. Jax pulls him away from the kids and he leaves the room pulling his phone out of his pocket as he goes.

He sits on the porch, the line ringing.

* * *

"Hey you." she says softly. All three kids are asleep on the couch, their movie still playing.

"Hey." he says roughly.

Hearing something in his voice, she carefully stands up and leaves the room, "What wrong?"

"Just really needed to hear your voice right now."

"You alone?" she asks wrapping her arm around her waist as she walks the hall.

"At the moment."

"Can you tell me?" she asks stopping and leaning against the wall.

"I nearly did something I don't think I could have..."

"You didn't. You stopped. Bobby and Hap are with you right?"

"Bobby, Jax and Tig."

"Good." thankful that Jax is with him. She wonders how long it will be before Embry is able to change back to human so he can tell her what is going on. Part of her feels guilty about having him follow the club around but not enough to have him stop. Her family needs all the help it can get.

"Am I protecting you and the kids?"

"Always. Family is everything, to both of us. I know you are a good dad, even if you forget... I don't."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I'll see you when I get home."

"Alright." she says hanging up. She waits a few moments before returning to her kids.

* * *

He closes the phone and stares off in the distance, he narrows his eyes when he thinks he sees the same wolf that cut him off the night Zobelle got away from him.

"Hey." Jax says sitting down next to him, lighting up a cigarette.

"I'm okay." he says, shaking his head, knowing he most have been seeing things. _Embry's_ _wolf legends from home_ _are getting to me._

"I know." Jax says taking a drag before handing the cigarette to him.

They smoke together in silence.

* * *

Tara enters the room to find Chibs writhing in bed.

"What happened?" she asks the nurse.

"Severe head pain. Says he can't see out of his right eye."

She hides her smirk as she 'checks' him.

"Thank you." Chibs whispers.

"He needs to be put back on critical." she tells the nurse.

"Dr. Gallagher already did." the nurse tells her.

Nodding she leaves the room. Hopeful this won't bite her in the ass.

* * *

"Found something." Bobby says joining the two of them outside.

They follow him in to see Tig holding a bunch of letters over a open flame and the judge begging.

"Please...please. No." the judge pleads.

"Old love letters. Found a god damn shrine to his dead wife upstairs." Bobby tells them.

Jax stands in front of the judge, "Throw out the case and don't think of telling anyone about this...or we'll be back. We'll trash wifey's room and burn every motherfucking thing in there."

"Okay..." the judge cries.

"We'll hold onto these. Just to make sure you understand." Tig says removing the letters from the flame and putting them into his back pocket.

Alex watches with contempt clear on his face that his dad pleaded for old letters but refused to help him.

* * *

"Well?" Clay asks when Bobby and Tig get out of the van. Jax and Opie head right to their bikes.

"Made it work." Bobby tells him.

"Judge dismissed the case. We waited til he made the call." Tig tells him.

"The guns?" Clay asks watching as Opie and Jax get on their bikes.

"All good, hardware checked out." Tig tells him.

"Where they goin'?" Clay asks watching as they ride off the lot.

"Home." Bobby and Tig say.

* * *

Jax gets home, and joins Tara in the shower.

* * *

Opie finds Bella and all three kids having breakfast at the house. Embry is at the table and nods when he notices him.

"Daddy!" Ellie and Kenny yell out and run over to him when they notice him.

Piper gets off his stool and joins the two of them hugging him.

He kisses all three of their heads before going over to her.

"Hey you." she says softly with a smile.

He doesn't say a word just pulls her to him and kisses her deeply.

All three kids giggle watching them kiss.

Getting up, he maneuvers the kids out of them room. "We'll finish later." he whispers to them.

* * *

He's getting dressed when Tara comes in holding the house phone.

"It's Hale. He tried calling the cell." she says handing over the phone.

"Yeah."

"Something happened at Caracara." Hale tells him before hanging up.

* * *

He gets to the Caracara at the same time as Bella.

Firemen are just finishing putting out all the flames. The building completely destroyed.

"Oh, god." she breathes taking in the sight.

"Clay did this." Jax snarls.

"No..Jax this was not Clay. I know things are strained but even he wouldn't do this to Luann." she tries to tell him as Bobby, Half-sac and Happy arrive.

"Shit." Bobby says.

"Tell him Clay didn't do this." she demands from the three of them.

Not one is able to help.

"Talk to Quinn, let him know I want to transfer. I'm going Nomad." Jax says before walking off.

"Jax!" she yells after him, she tries to go after him but Bobby stops her, knowing that she son't be able to get through to him right now. "Clay didn't do this." she whispers trying to convince herself that she's right.


	11. Chapter 11

Embry closes his phone after checking the time and after looking around to make sure no one is looking his way, disappears into a secluded area to phase.

_About time you showed up ~_ Leah

_Sorry had to make sure no one was around. It's a little harder for me to phase than you guys_

_Don't worry about it man. How are things? ~_ Quil

_Caracara was burned down and Bella's cousin thinks that it was her uncle so he wants to go lone wolf_

_Charlie is still mumbling about going after that guy that attacked Piper's mom_ ~ Seth

_But only when he thinks we're not around. Mom is having a hard time not letting him go ~_ Leah

_How's Bella? ~_ Sam

_Trying to keep busy. She pulled the kids out of school and is taking a leave of absence_

_Damn ~_ Jake _~ Sorry Angela needed help with the baby_

_You get the stuff from Bella?_

_Angela laughed for an hour when she open the box ~_ Jake

_What Bella send? ~_ Jared

_A stuffed wolf on a Harley, a SAMCRO onesie and SAMCRO cap for him to wear ~_ Jake

_Sounds like something she would do ~_ Paul

_What's going with that guy, Zobelle? ~_ Leah

_Nothing right now. They're doing guns again ~ **he lets them hear what he did when Opie confronted the judge**_

_She still having you follow him and Jax around ~_ Sam

_Yeah, which leaves her and the kids unprotected. Dammit, Jake, I need help_

_Help is headed your way, should be there in less than an hour ~_ Jake

* * *

Not hearing anyone stirring inside, he sits on the steps and waits.

After a few minutes, he hears the kids talking quietly. Standing, he enters the house.

"Bry!" Ellie shrieks. He grabs her when she gets to him and hugs her.

"Shhhh, are they still sleeping?" he asks motioning down the hall to where he knows Bella and Opie are not sleeping. _A least she's trying to be quiet..._

Kenny shrugs.

He steers them to the kitchen and grabs a box of cereal. He's poring milk into his bowl when he nearly drops the carton, due to the sound of bikes outside.

"Stay here." he tells the kids. He places his hand on the handle of the gun in the back of his jeans. He opens the door to see Paul and Quil pulling to a stop in front of the house. He laughs taking his hand off his gun, thankful for the help.

"So this is Bells place?" Quil asks when they get close to him.

"Opie's house...yeah it's hers." he laughs.

Paul smirks and cracks his knuckles, "I get to meet the boyfriend before Jake. Awesome." he says with a smirk.

"My cousin. I get first dips." Quil says.

He just rolls his eyes and has them come in.

"Bry?" Kenny says looking at him in confusion.

"They're family. Go get your dad and Bella." he tells him. He looks and sees that Ellie and Piper are sitting in the living room, watching cartoons and eating cereal.

"DAD!" Kenny yells going down the hall.

Embry watches as the bedroom door opens.

"Kenny, what did I say about yelling?" Opie says coming out of the room, putting his shirt on.

"Don't..but..Embry brought friends." Kenny tells him.

He looks up and notices that there are two guys he doesn't know watching him. Knowing Bella is still getting dresses he makes sure to close the door behind him.

"Embry, who are your friends?" he asks coming over to them.

"This is..." Embry is cut off by a excited laugh coming from behind him.

"PAUL!" Bella laughingly yells running by him and grabbing one of the guys in a hug.

"Hey, little sis." the guy she is hugging says.

"Hey Quil." she says noticing the other guy.

"Bella?" he says getting her attention.

She lets go of the guy she is hugging and goes over to him, pulling him down for a quick kiss, "They're family." she whispers.

"As I was saying," Embry mock glares at her, "This is Paul and my brother Quil."

"Nice to meet ya." he says wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him.

Paul and Quil smirk and nod at each other.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asks smiling.

"Came to visit my little sis. Got my kit if you want me to do that ink later." Paul tells her.

"You got it." she says with a grin.

"Rachel let me ink her back." Paul says with a grin.

"Ink?" he asks looking at her.

"Remember, I told you that Paul designed my tattoo." he nods at her, "I asked him to create another one for me and this time he gets to do the ink instead of his fiancee." she tells him leaning back against his chest.

He nods and brushes a kiss on her head. "Okay, I need to get to the garage."

"I know...any word about the transfer yet?" she whispers turning in his arms.

"I'll let you know when I know something. You visiting Luann today?" he asks smiling down at her.

"Yeah, Chibs gets out today right?" she asks.

He nods.

"Love you." she whispers before kissing him.

Embry, Paul and Quil head into the living room and sit down with the kids and wait for Bells to finish saying goodbye to her mate.

"Em, take your time. I'll let them know that you'll be a little late. Nice meeting the two of you." Opie calls out as he is putting on his kutte. Kenny, Ellie and Piper quickly get up and each give him a hug.

"Later." they all say as Opie leaves.

Bella stands in the doorway, smirking at her pack brothers and kids.

"SO why you really here?" she asks.

"Extra protection, sis. You and the pups need it." Paul tells here.

Quil nods in agreement.

"Okay...I'm glad you guys are here." she tells them as Quil gets up and gives her a hug.

* * *

He walks into the clubhouse behind Bobby and Tig.

"What's going on?" Bobby asks seeing Clay on the phone.

"Nomad prez." Half-Sac tells them.

Each find a seat and wait.

Clay hangs up and joins them.

"Quinn accepted Jax's transfer." Clay tells them. "He's waiting on us."

"So it's really happening?" Half-Sac asks.

"Yeah..." Bobby says looking at Clay.

"I didn't start this. I didn't light the goddamn match." Clay tells them.

"Tell that to Jax." he says grabbing his phone to text Bella.

"If he truly thinks that I would burn down Caracara while Luann is laid up in the hospital...I got no reason to keep him around." Clay says.

"Gonna need a full table." Bobby says. "Vote needs to be unanimous."

"I'll go tell my old man." he says sending the text to Bella.

* * *

"Nomad says yes..Need full table, heading to see my dad. It's from Opie." Quil says reading off the text for her while she is laying down while Paul does her new tattoo.

"Who's Nomad?" Kenny asks from his seat. He's sitting next to Bella's head while she helps him with his reading.

Ellie and Piper are watching cartoons on the other side of the room.

"Nomad is...what Uncle Jax is thinking about doing." she tells him, slightly upset.

"Sorry sis." Paul says softly not taking his eyes off his work.

She nods and closes her eyes thankful for the pain of him inking her skin at the moment.

* * *

Jax pulls into the driveway of Piney's cabin. He gets off his back and heads to the door to knock.

Piney is waiting with the door open before he gets there.

"What are you doing here?" Piney wheezes out.

"No one heard from in a while. Making sure you're not dead."

"Well?" Piney scoffs holding his arms out so he can look at him.

"Smell like you are. When did you take a shower last."

Piney rolls his eyes and sits down.

"I wanted you to hear this from me...I've decided to go nomad." he says leaning against the wall.

"You gave me your word that you would make things right...how you going to do that if you're not there? I gave you your dad's book."

"I know...but it's not exactly a how-to manual. It's half manifesto, half MC love letter. I'm trying to read between the lines. Even Bella is trying to help and even she is having a hard time finding the right path."

"He saw this coming, you know. The feds, Irish..guys like Zobelle. He knew it would end bloody."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

"It will when you give up." Piney states.

"If I don't leave now, someone is going to end up dead. I can't do that to my mom or Bella, for some reason, they love him."

Piney just shakes his head and leaves the room. Knowing they aren't going to get anywhere he leaves.

Opie pulls in as he exits.

"Told him?" Opie asks getting off his bike.

He nods.

"Didn't take it well, did he?"

"Nope." he scoffs.

"Can admit, i'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it."

"When it comes to me and Clay, I'm not sure anything I do is good for the club."

"He's your father, Jax."

"No, my old man died sixteen years ago." he says walking off.

* * *

She enters the hospital to find Jax standing there, waiting.

"Told Gemma yet?" she asks coming up behind him.

He turns to her as she warps her arm around his waist, he looks behind her and notices a new shadow.

"Not yet. Who your friend?" he asks.

"Paul."

"The one that did your back."

She nods, "And my new ink. Thought Luann could use a little eye candy." she says with a grin.

He's cut off by Happy heading their way.

Happy reaches into his vest and starts pulling out a piece of paper, "I got Quinn's letter..."

"Not now." she snarls looking around.

Jax nods in agreement. Happy nods in understanding as Chibs steam rolls toward them, Half-Sac, Bobby and Tara behind him.

"I"M FREE! Jackie boy!"

"Put this on, brother." Bobby says handing Chibs his kutte.

"Was he always like this or was there some damage?" she says with a grin when Chibs laughs and picks her up in a hug.

"Hello, beautiful." Chibs says before shocking all of them by smacking her lips with a kiss.

Paul moves forward and growls softly.

She hits him on the shoulder laughing as he puts her back down and wiping her mouth. "Yeah there was brain damage."

Jax just shakes his head laughing, "How you doing?"

"I'm alright. What's going on with Zobelle?" Chibs says softly.

She and Paul move around the boys to stand next to Tara as Chibs and Jax talk quietly.

Unlike Tara, she notices that the woman, Margaret Murphy was watching them.

Jax comes over and gives her a hug before kissing Tara goodbye.

"I'm going to see Luann, you coming?" she asks trying to ignore the woman glaring at Tara.

Tara shakes her head no, so she and Paul head up.

* * *

Embry watches as the van and Jax's bike come onto the lot.

"Chibs!" Clay calls out as he and the rest of the group go to meet him.

"Jax going nomad, Caracara burning down. Anything else I don't know about?" Chibs demands.

"Wanted to let you heal first." Clay tells him.

"I'm all better." Chibs scoffs.

"Save it for the table." Bobby says as Gemma gets near them.

"Welcome home." Gemma tells Chibs.

He watches as Chibs hugs Gemma.

"I have a repo." Gemma says when Chibs lets her go.

Opie takes it out of her hand, "Sacks!"

He watches as Opie and Half-Sac head to the tow truck. He sees Clay say something to Jax but he's unable to hear it since he's closer to the machines now. He notices Jax take out his phone before taking off again.

* * *

"What's up? Text was vague." he says entering the house to find Tara waiting for him holding Abel.

She nods her head to the living room where Stahl is sitting on his couch.

"You got a warrant?" he snarls at her.

"Not searching now am I?" Stahl snarks.

"Where's Neeta?" he asks Tara softly as he goes over to her and Abel.

"Getting groceries." Tara tells him.

"You two are so sweet. Like Ozzy and Harriet."

Tara glares at her as the front door opens and three kids burst into the house.

"Hey, it okay if Neeta..." Bella starts as she walks in Paul and another guy behind her. "Ellie, take Kenny and Piper outside. Quil, go with them." she orders to the guy he doesn't know.

The kids, knowing something is up quickly go outside with Quil.

"Unless you have a warrant, get the hell out of this house." she snarls pointing at the door.

He wraps a arms around Tara and watches his cousin go head to dead with the ATF bitch.

"Hmmm, need a little girl to protect you Jax." Stahl snarks.

Bella glares at her. For some reason, he is sure that Paul starts growling when Stahl stands up and moves close to Bella.

"I'm just curious, why are you leaving SAMCRO, Jax?" Stahl says not once taking her eyes off Bella.

Tara looks at him in confusion.

"Give me a few?" he asks her. Glaring at Stahl, Tara heads outside to join the kids.

"Oh..I thought old ladies knew everything." Stahl snarks looking away from Bella to turn and face him.

Out the corner of his eye, he sees Paul grab Bella when her arm raises, more than likely to attack Stahl.

"What do you want?"

"Same pitch as last time. The Irish screwed you, so screw them back and screw Zobelle. Plus you'll be protecting the MC."

"Same response. I'm not a rat." he snarls at her.

Stahl smirks, "SAMCRO is not my target at the moment but you don't help me and I will come after you." Stahl says grabbing her purse. "Tara's a legal guardian, right? I would hate for that precious little boy to end up in the system. Any of the kids really." Stahl says the last part looking right a Bella.

"Touch any of my kids and I will end you." Bella snarls at her.

Stahl smirks and lets herself out.

"Calm down, Bells. Bitch was just trying to rile you." Paul tells her.

"He's right. No one is going to touch any of your kids." he says coming over and Paul lets her go as he wraps his arms around her. He smiles softly knowing that she considers Abel one of her kids.

The three of them head outside. Ellie, Kenny and Piper are playing on the play set that he put in when Kenny and Ellie started spending time here.

Abel is sitting in a bouncy seat watching them.

"What was she talking about? And why did it seem like Bella already knew?" Tara asks him. Bella and Paul sit down on the lawn chairs.

He takes her inside.

"I'm going Nomad. I'm still part of the MC, just not attached to any one town." he tells her.

"Bella?"

"She was there at Caracara when I asked Happy to talk to Quinn."

"So she knew and didn't tell me?"

"I asked her not to until things were certain. I need to do this. There needs to be space between me and Clay."

"You made this decision without talking to me."

"It was the right one." he tells her.

She heads back outside, ending the conversation. He stops himself from kicking or hitting anything and lets himself out.

* * *

She looks up when Tara comes out by herself.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Part of me was hoping that he'd change his mind." she tells her as Tara sits down.

"I just wish he would have talked about it with me before deciding it."

"I know. If you want to head to work, I can wait for Neeta. Was gonna see if she could watch the kids for a couple hours, at least until Embry could come get them."

"She likes having the around, says it makes her feel useful having a house full." Tara says standing and heading back inside.

"You know Quil could watch them." Paul says.

"Not yet. They don't know him."

He nods in understanding.

* * *

At the Wahewa Reservation , he and Sac repossess an old SUV.

An Indian woman rushes out to stop them.

"NO!" the woman yells.

"Sorry, just doing our job." Sac says.

"I need my truck!" she says. "All my beads are in there. I'm a bead weaver."

"Sorry, contact your finance company." he tells her.

"Please." she begs.

"I'm sorry." he says getting into the truck.

* * *

"I call dibs." Sac says opening up the trunk of the SUV.

"Really?" he says as Sac grabs one of the boxes and takes out his knife to open it.

Sac nods as he cuts open the box to reveal bullets.

"Holy shit." he mutters as Sac takes one of the bullets out.

"Clay. Tig. You might want to come see this." Sac calls out. Sac holds out the bullet for Clay to take when they get close.

"Homemade, unstamped." Clay says handing it to Tig.

"Where?" Tig asks.

"Hauled it from the Wahewa land." he tells them.

"Not many hunters use nine mil for deer." Clay says. "We need to talk to the owner."

"Umm..is he suppose to be driving?" Embry calls out pointing to Chibs getting into one of the vans and driving off.

"Fuck." all of them mutter.

* * *

She takes a deep breath before dialing the number.

"Hey hun. What's wrong?" Gemma ask when she picks up.

"I wanted you to hear it from me... though I'm sure Tara is on her way to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Jax is joining the Nomads."

"SHIT!"

"Yeah..."

She can hear Gemma breathing hard. "Tara just pulled in."

"Okay, I'm sorry." she says softly.

"I know." Gemma says hanging up.

* * *

Tara enters the office to find Gemma pacing.

"Guess you heard." she says sitting down "Maybe with the way things are going, it's not a bad idea."

"No, it's a terrible idea. Nomad is purgatory. No family or roots."

"He thinks it's the right thing to do."

"He doesn't know what's best right now. Jax by himself with the list of enemies we have." Gemma shakes her head, lost.

Swallowing hard, she gets up and leaves Gemma to her thoughts. Not so sure about Jax going Nomad anymore.

* * *

"Were you going to tell me?" Gemma asks when he enters the office.

"Yeah, just didn't want to say anything until things were certain." he tells her sitting down next to her.

"Are they?"

"Vote's tonight."

Swallowing, "A while back, you were searching for a box. I know what was in it."

He nods.

"Why did you burn it?"

"At the time, I wasn't sure what to do with it."

"Your dad was lost, Thomas had just died. Darkest time of his life." she wipes a tear from her eye, "I loved him, more than I loved any man. Smart, big heart and very complicated. Just like you."

He laughs.

"I think his complications killed him."

"What?" he asks sitting straighter.

"I don't think it was an accident. I think he hated his life and let the road take it. I don't want that for you, Jackson."

"I know, ma." he says standing.

"Page 449." she calls out.

He nods but doesn't look back.

* * *

Opie goes with Clay, Tig and Half-Sac back to the reservation.

While the woman doesn't want to talk to them, her son does.

* * *

"You've been quiet about this." he says to Bobby as they get on their bikes to go talk to Juice.

"No one asked what I think." Bobby says.

"I'm asking."

"I don't think Clay burned down Caracara. He wouldn't do that to Luann or Bella. I makes it easier for you to hate him if you think it's true. Check with Unser. See what he knows."

"What about my going Nomad?"

"I think we need a psychic shift. Maybe you doing Nomad is it or not." Bobby starts up his bike and that is the end of the conversation.

* * *

He and Bobby enter Juice's hospital room.

"There's our favorite pin cushion." Bobby jokes.

"Shit..I've missed you guys." Juice says sitting up.

"How you doing?" he asks.

"Should be out in a day or so."

"Nice." Bobby says.

"So what's up?"

"Gonna need you to proxy a vote."

Juice looks at them in confusion. "For?"

"I'm asking for a transfer." He tells him. "Going Nomad."

Juice scoffs leaning his head back to lay on the pillow behind him, "Can't say I didn't see it coming."

"I'll let you give Bobby your vote." he says and turns to leave.

"You remember what you told me, once you're patched, the members are your family. This charter is your home." Juice says as he opens the door and leaves the room.

* * *

He's sitting down drinking a beer when Clay joins him.

"When you get all quiet like this, you remind me of your old man." Clay tells him.

He laughs, "Jax wants me to vote to let him go."

"Love to give advice don't he. Sure don't take any."

"Reminds me of his old man." he says looking at Clay.

"John was a stubborn bastard." Clay says with a laugh.

"I was talking about you." he says.

"Fatherhood...tough."

"Yeah, when Donna...I spun out of control. Didn't know how to comfort my kids. Bella...she helped me stay sane. Helped me and the kids."

"You're a good man, Ope. Bella would't love you if you weren't. You know what, head home. I'll wait."

"You sure?" he asks about to get up.

"See you at the clubhouse."

He gets up and heads out.

* * *

Jax sits in Abel's room while he sleeps. He can hear Neeta telling the kids to quiet down.

He opens the manuscript to page 449.

_I found myself lost in my own club. I trusted few, feared most. Nomad offered escape and exile. I didn't know if leaving would cure of kill this thing that we created. I didn't know if it was an act of strength or cowardice. I didn't know, so I stayed. I stayed because, in the end, the only way I could hold this up was to suffer under the weight of it._

* * *

He gets home and sees Quil and Paul passed out in the living room. He heads into the bedroom and starts undressing, thinking to grab a shower before having to head to the clubhouse.

"Hey." Bella says coming into the room, in only a towel, her hair wet. He sits on the bed when she stands in front of him. "What are you doing home?" she says with a smile.

He runs his hands from her knees to just under the towel, "Want to take a shower with me?"

"You just want to see my new ink." she says with a grin and drops the towel.

He slowly traces the new tattoo. It starts at the tops of her rips and flows down to her hip. It's an angel crumbled on to its knees, hands covering it's face. Black hair fallen between the gray and black wings, black, grey and white bandages cover its body. The ball that the SOA symbol on it is next to her knees. Loose feathers from the wings go down her side to pool at her hip.

He stutters unsure what to say.

"A fallen angel." she says softly. "For all those that we've lost." she adds with a small smile.

"You most certainly are one." he says softly picking her up and carrying her back in the bathroom.

* * *

He sits with Unser, who tells him that there is no way that one man burned down the Caracara.

Understanding, he gets up and walks over to talk to Clay, who is luckily standing by himself.

"Can I talk to you?" he says swallowing his pride.

"What's up?" Clay asks.

"I'm sorry about accusing you for burning Caracara. I was wrong."

"The way we've been going at each other, not surprised you though I did it."

"My going Noman, what's your thoughts?"

"Makes sense."

"You want me gone." he asks roughly.

"I didn't put this in motion."

"Not what I'm asking. Do you want me gone?" he swallows hard.

"Yes." Clay says roughly.

He walks away quickly to hide how that one word affected him.

* * *

"Alright. We know what's on the table. Nomad has accepted Jax. We need to vote for release. Anything to say?" Clay says unable to look at him. His glasses hiding his eyes.

He shakes his head, knowing if he opens his mouth part of him might beg to stop this.

"Yea." Clay says roughly. "I have Tig's proxy, yea."

"Juice's proxy is yea. Me...yea." Bobby says.

Piney stands, "Yea." he says roughly and walks out.

Opie looks at him, sighs, "Yea."

He nods.

Chibs sits there unsure.

"Chibs?" Clay asks.

"This what you want?" Chibs asks.

He nods, not looking at anyone.

"Jesus...yea."

"Vote is unanimous. You're free to transfer." Clay says and turns unable to look at him.

He stands, removes his kutte and lays it on the table. He takes out his knife and starts removing his patches.

* * *

Tara is waiting for him when he exits the clubhouse.

"Thought you were at work?" he asks when she wraps her arms around him. She rests her hands on the empty spots where his patches were.

"I had vacation time saved up. Let's get away from Charming for a few days. Let things quiet down." Tara says softly.

"What about the kid?" he says with a smile.

"We'll bring him with us. He'll love it."

"Alright...we'll go tonight." he says.

"I need to talk to you." Gemma says coming over to them.

"Ma..."

"Come to the house. Both of you." Gemma says before walking off.

* * *

"Hey Gemma, what's up?" she asks picking up the phone.

"Come to the house. You and Ope. Tonight."

"Umm... okay. We'll be there soon."

"What's up?" Opie asks stealing a carrot off the plate.

"Gemma wants you and me to come over. Now."

"Okay, what about the kids?" he says looking at their kids sprawled out in the next room. Ellie is sitting next to Embry, reading. Paul is showing Kenny all the things in is kit and Piper is watching a movie with his head on Quil's lap.

"Embry." she calls out. He comes in the kitchen. "Could the three of you watch the kids? Gemma needs me and Ope."

"No problem."

"Okay, food will be ready in fifteen minutes. Make sure they eat everything." she says pointing to the food in the oven before following Opie out of the house.

* * *

He smokes a cigeratte while Tara gets him some coffee.

He looks up when Opie and Bella walk in.

"What are you doing here?" he asks giving Bella a hug.

"Gemma told us to come over." she tells him, staring at his kutte. "It's done." she says softly.

He nods.

Gemma arrives with Clay.

Clay puts Jax's patches on the counter by the door.

"Sit down. You too, Tara." Gemma says when Tara starts to leave the room. "You and Bella know what I have to tell them."

Opie sits down and instead of sitting next to him, Bella sits in his lap. Clearly upset. Tara sits down next to him, placing her hand over his.

Opie, Clay and he look at the three of them in confusion.

"Gemma?" Clay asks.

"The night of Bobby's party...I didn't get into an accident." Gemma starts. "I was attacked."

The air in the room seems to be gone.

"A minivan pulls up behind me..this girl jumps out, screaming that her baby is choking. She was very convincing."

Opie wraps an arm around her waist while she places a hand on Gemma shoulder. Gemma reaches up and squeezes it.

"It was a goddamn doll. She hit me over the head, not sure what she used."

He can feel Tara's hand on his, shaking.

"I woke up, chained to some fence in the utility house by the access road. There was three of them..they wore masks." Gemma cuts off, tears in her eyes, "One spoke and I knew who it was by his voice and the tat on his throat. Zobelle's right hand, Weston. He told me to give you a message. Stop selling guns to color."

She lowers her head, trying to muffle the sobs by holding a hand over her mouth.

"Told me if I didn't, they'ld find me and do it again."

He, Clay and Opie silently seethe that Zobelle dared to do this.

Gemma takes a deep breath, "They raped me. All three of them...more than once."

She sees her uncle's heart break at the news as his eyes start to water. She feels Opie tighten his hold on her.

Near tears, he hits the table before standing and going over to his mom, he kisses her hands and squeezes his step-father's shoulder. Clay places his hand over his. He holds out his hands for Tara and she takes it, nodding at Gemma that she is proud of her.

She slips out of Opie's lap and wraps her arms around Gemma shoulders, her tears following freely. She goes around and hugs her uncle.

Opie does the same as Jax, kisses Gemma's hands and resting his hand on his shoulder.

The four of them leave them be.

Clay cradles his wife's face in his hands, unsure what to say.

As he is about to leave, he stops at the doorway and reclaims his patches from the counter.

She smiles through her tears when she sees him pick them up. He and Opie exchange a look of understanding, Zobelle will pay with his life for this.


	12. Chapter 12

She could feel him tracing her back so she turned to look at him.

"How did you know?" he asks her softly.

She leans up on her forearms and looks at him, "Unser and I found her."

"How?"

"Got a phone call. I'm guessing it was Weston or one of the guys that was with him, whoever it was told me to find their message and that next time... I would join." she tells him her voice breaking slightly.

"Embry didn't come down because he was having problems with finding out about his dad, did he?" he asked brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face.

"No..he came down to watch over me. With everything that's happened he called our pack and Jake sent Paul and Quil. They are here to protect me and the kids, anyway they can."

"Good." he says pulling her towards him so she is laying on him. He kisses the top of her head and slowly they fall asleep.

* * *

He sits at the table, sewing his patches back onto his kutte.

Tara sits down next to him, "I wanted to tell you the instant I found out."

"I'm glad you didn't. Keeping her secret... that was the right thing to do." he says hoarsely. She places her hand on his when she notices that he is tearing up.

"You'll be going after Zobelle, won't you?" she asks roughly.

"Oh, yeah. I would do the same for you or Bella." he said pulling his hand away from hers ignoring that his eyes are watering.

"If Opie or one of her 'brothers' didn't get there first." she says with a slight bite. "Besides, you've already done that for me."

He nods and goes back to getting his patches back on the kutte.

"Would this be the solution your dad would have come up with?" she asks thinking about everything she has read.

"If Gemma had been raped on his watch...he would have scorched the earth."

A knock at the door stops her from saying anything. With his gun behind his back, he answers.

"Sorry..I know that it's late." Clay says emotional exhausted, when Abel starts crying.

"I'll get him." Tara says moving to give them privacy.

"It's okay." he says and motions for Clay to follow him to Abel's room.

He picks Abel up and after rocking him slightly, hands him over to Clay who sits down in the rocking chair.

"I'm sorry." Clay says after a few moments of silence.

"Me too." he says ready to bury the past.

"What they did to your mom...threatening to do to Bella..." Clay says roughly.

"What?" he asks confused.

"Gemma told me that Bella found her because she was called to find the message and next time she would join."

He scoffs and clenches his fists.

"Feds in town, charges pending..this needs to be smart. I need you..can't do it without you." Clay tells him.

"Not going anywhere."

"How do we handle it?" Clay asks rocking with Abel.

"We kill 'em all."

* * *

The next morning, he stands in the hallway and watches as she cooks breakfast for the kids.

"She okay?" Embry asks standing next to him.

"No. Gemma...I know that you know about Gemma. She told me, Jax and Clay last night."

"Brave of her but needed to be done." Embry says. "You know that they threatened Bella..to do.. that to her."

His fingers move into a fist, "Yeah. You and your friends..keep my family safe." he says moving away from the wall, makes his way to kiss each of the kids and her before leaving.

* * *

The guys gather in the chapel. The others are confused to see Jax there.

"This have anything to do with those patches being back on your kutte." Bobby asks.

"I'm not going Nomad." he says swallowing roughly. He looks across the table and Opie nods, understanding.

"That's good news, Jackie boy." Chibs says.

"Just listen.." he says cutting off all talking and nods at Clay.

"The night of Bobby's party...Gemma didn't have an accident. She was jumped.." he blows out the breathe he is holding, "They...they took her to the utility house. Three of Zobells's crew. They gave her a message to tell us. Stop selling guns to color...then all of them raped her." his voice breaks as he says it.

Each are shocked, unsure what to say.

"One was Weston." he growls.

"To add insult to it, one of them called Bella to find her. Told her to find their message and next time..she would join." Opie says unable to keep the snarl out of his voice. Piney places his hand on his son's shoulder in support.

"What?" is exclaimed around the room. "What do we do?"

"We get bloody and chop their fucking heads off." Chibs growls, agreements are exclaimed.

"No!" Clay yells.

"We've never seen something like this, raping an old lady and threatening to do the same to a member's family...As much as I would like to cut their blackened hearts out, a show of force will just get us thrown back into jail. We need to do what they've done. Find a weakness and unravel the fuckers." he says anger clear in his voice.

"Until then, do not react. You see Zobelle, Weston or any of their crew, you..you swallow the urge to take their heads off and walk away. Understood?"

Each nod in agreement but even he can see that it's going to be hard.

"We need to get our hands on some guns. Cupboard is bare." Bobby tells them.

"It's gonna be weeks before Lin's pipeline is open." Clay says.

"We're going to have to tap our personal stock." he says looking at each of them.

They all agree to bring in their own weapons.

* * *

She lets herself into the house to find Gemma still wearing the same clothes as last night sitting at the table, smoking. She puts up a hand to tell Paul to wait outside for her.

"Hey..." she says sitting down with her. "How you doing?"

"Okay..I think." Gemma says taking a deep drag off her joint.

"Bells..company." Paul says opening the door to let Tara in.

"Guard dog?" Tara asks joining them at the table.

"Something like that." she says.

"That was brave, you know?" Tara says to Gemma.

"Had to snap those boys out of their bullshit."

"Had to be done for you. You need to talk at all?" Tara asks.

She leans back and relights the joint that Gemma had been smoking. She takes a hit and hands it back to Gemma.

"Nothing to talk about. Clay's never going to want to be with me again." Gemma says roughly.

"Aunt Gem, he loves you." she says.

"Completely and utterly." Tara adds.

"Love don't mean a thing. Men...they need to own their pussy. Clay's has been violated, torn apart.. He'll find another. It's what happens."

She and Tara just look at her in shock.

"Bullshit..." she mutters standing and leaving Tara alone with Gemma.

"Bells?" Paul asks following her.

"I need to check on Luann. Let her know about this..." she says breaking off.

"She's wrong." Paul tells her. "Real men wouldn't look for a new pussy just cause his was raped. It's a fear, nothing more."

"I hope so." she says softly as they get into the truck.

* * *

Jax is packing up his gun stash when he notices that Tara is standing in the doorway.

"Shit..thought you were at work." he says admitting that she surprised him.

"I got suspended. They figured out that I helped Chibs. There'll be a hearing in two weeks. I wasn't going to tell you but there are enough secrets right now."

"Shit...What does that mean?" he asks moving away form the guns and standing before her.

"Best case, a mark that will follow me. Worst case, I lose my license."

"We'll figure it out." he says hugging her.

She clings to him with Gemma's voice in her head about men looking for pussy but is unable to voice the thoughts that she is having.

* * *

"You're looking better." she says sitting down on Luann's bed.

"Need to get out of here." Luann says. "How are the girls?"

"Some are taking the time as unpaid vacation. A few are doing some web came work from their bedrooms."

"At least some are trying to work. The Caracara?"

"Still don't know who did it. Might have been Zobelle." she says. "But that's not why I'm here."

"What's going on?" Luann asks sitting up straighter.

"You know how Gemma has been weird since her accident?" she says unable to look her in the eye.

"Yeah."

"There wasn't an accident. She was jumped by Weston and a few of his crew." she tells her swallowing.

"What did they do to her?" Luann asks.

"They took turns raping her...and when they were done, called me to find her. Gemma told Clay and Jax last night. Now she thinks Clay is gonna look for a new chick, cause 'his pussy' was violated." she says tearing up.

"Hey pretty boy, get my doc. I need to find out how soon he can spring me. My family needs me." Luann says.

After a nod from her, Paul leaves the room.

Luann leans forward and takes her face in her hands. "You've kept this secret for her. From your uncle, Jax..all of them?"

She nods.

"You're stronger than I thought. Now, its my turn." Luann says. "I need to go knock some sense into Gemma the instant I can leave."

* * *

He's working on his bike when Tig starts coming over to him.

"Someone's been hitting the vodka." Embry mumbles watching as Tig staggers towards Opie. It hadn't taken much for them to figure out that he would stay on Opie while Quil stays with the kids and Paul follows Bells around.

"Looks good, Ope. Done amazing restoring that bad boy." Tig says standing over him.

"Had good help." he says. Embry smirks thinking about the other night when he found Bella sitting astride the bike 'helping'.

"This thing with Gemma...it's awful." Tig starts.

"Yeah." he says wiping his hands on the rag he is holding.

"Threatening Bella with the same..." Tig says his voice cutting off.

"Tig? You okay?" he asks noticing that Tig seems to be a little off, more than usual.

"I'm fine..Ope, can I ask you a question?" Tig asks not really looking at him.

"What?" he ask standing. Noticing that something is up Embry places his tools on the ground getting ready to run over if needed.

"The night..the night Donna was killed, why was she driving the truck?" Tig asks.

Embry feels his enitre body go cold. He quickly pulls out his phone and dials Bella, not caring if she picks up or not.

"Was taking the kids home, she wanted to stay..to get to know Bella. Why are you asking me that?"

"She wasn't suppose to be in the truck, Ope." Tig says breaking down. A cold feeling of understanding comes over him.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" he screams going after him "WHAT DID YOU DO?" he says and slams him against the truck that they are next to. Punching him repeatedly. Tig is just taking it.

Embry is already running over and calling out for Clay.

"It was Stahl..she made you into a rat. We didn't want to believe it."

"WE WERE GOOD! I came clean!" he screams as Jax pulls up and the others get closer.

"She put money in your accounts, wiretaps in your truck...It was all Stahl...she wanted us to think you had turned. It was suppose to be you not Donna. I'm sorry, Ope..So sorry." Tig tells him as Embry pulls him off.

He pulls himself out of Embry's hold, not hearing anything being said over the roar in his ears and runs to his truck.

"What the hell just happened? What did you say to him?" Clay demands.

"Call Tara, she's at my house!" Jax yells at Half-Sac.

Embry stands watching Opie peel out of the lot. He can hear Bella sobbing and Paul telling him that they'll be there soon.

"I don't..I don't even know who I am anymore..." Tig mumbles.

"What are you talking about?" Clay demands.

"I had to tell him." Tig says looking right at Clay.

"Tell him what?" Jax demands.

"That I killed Donna." Tig says confirming what Bobby suspected. "He knows..that it was all Stahl's fault."

"What?" Embry says turning to look at him. _The ATF bitch that threatened to put all the pups in foster care._

"Opie knows that Stahl is the one that really killed Donna." Tig says again.

"Fuck.." Jax exclaims "He's going after Stahl."

"Go." Clay says as he and Embry run off leaving him to deal with Piney and Bobby.

* * *

Opie waits for Agent Stahl outside the police station.

He ignores his phone when it starts ringing.

"Sorry Bells." he says softly turning his phone off.

He follows Stahl in his truck when she and another agent drive off.

* * *

Jax gets to the station and not seeing Stahl, heads to Hale. Embry is waiting outside to keep a look out. Both are hoping that they could get to Stahl before Opie.

"Where's ATF?" he asks looking around, hoping the witch is still there.

"Left a while ago. Why?"

"Ope knows what happened to Donna. He's blaming Stahl." he tells him.

"Shit..I saw his truck after they left. He's more than likely tailing her." Hale says.

"I need to stop him." he says when he notices that Hale looks a little too happy about this development.

"I'll give Stahl a heads up." Hale says nodding at a nearby phone.

"Any clue where she was heading?" he asks.

"Seems she found a buyer that's willing to turn on the IRA. Probably one of Zobelle's crew." Hale says shrugging.

"Alright." he says and leaves.

* * *

Tara walks in to see Bobby and Clay talking.

"He's in there." Bobby tells her pointing to the back bedrooms.

Knowing that neither would tell her what is going on, she heads right to treat Tig.

"Do I want to know?" Tara asks as she treats Tig.

"Just a scuffle." Tig tells her.

The door slams open and Bella is standing there, clear that she has been crying. Paul, luckily, grabs her when it's clear she about to go after Tig. Half-Sac moves in front of her to help.

"Now...you pick now to come clean." Bella cries out as Bobby and Clay come in behind her.

"I'm sorry, Bella. He needed to know." Tig says actually sounding sorry about what happened.

"Bells, come on..Your man already got some good licks in." Paul tells her.

"Now it's my turn." she growls. Paul picks her up and takes her out of the room. Clay closes the door behind them.

"You and Opie got into it." Tara asks in slight confusion. "Go wash your hands so I can see how bad the scrapes are."

Tig heads into the bathroom.

Half-Sac watches the door and every so often, re-adjusting.

"You okay?" Tara asks when she notices.

"I think something's wrong with the implant." he starts undoing his pants. "Can I show you?" he says dropping them.

"Oh God!" she exclaims at the sight.

"Bad right?" Sac asks with a grimace.

"That's very..very infected. You need to go to the ER."

Tig comes out of the bathroom and seeing Sac with his pants down, turns and starts throwing up.

"ER...okay." Sac says pulling his pants up.

* * *

She sits on one of the couches. Her uncle places a beer in front of her.

"I know you're pissed." Clay says to her.

"He's going to kill her and there's nothing I can do to stop him. He's not picking up." she says taking a sip of the beer.

"Bella..."

"The funny thing is, part of me wants him to kill her. Might give him some closure but..."

"I know. Jax and Embry are looking for him."

"I know Tig is dealing with shit, killing Donna broke him but I wanted me or Jax to tell him when we thought he could deal with it. Not sprung on him when all this stuff is going on."

"He let Ope beat him..didn't fight back at all."

She nods and just closes her eyes, wanting the day to end.

* * *

Jax and Embry pull up at Impeccable Smokes.

They watch as Zobelle, Weston, and another guy exit.

It's clear that there is some tension brewing between them.

Zobelle and the other guy get into one car while Weston gets in another.

When they go in different directions, Jax follows Zobelle while Embry follows Weston on his bike.

* * *

She enters the house and after placing the keys on the side table heads into the living room where Quil and all three kids are watching a movie.

Well, Kenny and Ellie are watching the movie. Piper is asleep.

"Hey." she says softly getting Quil's attention.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

She shrugs not sure what to say before sitting down next to Ellie, who automatically curls into her side. She kisses the top of the girl's head.

Kenny moves from his seat and sits on the other side of her, curling into her as well. She does the same to him, brushing the top of his head with a kiss.

* * *

Waiting outside the office that Stahl had gone into, Opie sees Chibs walks out with paperwork.

_Oh, shit. Chibs._

A few minutes later, Stahl comes out, gets into a car to drive off.

He follows.

* * *

Jax follows Zobelle and sees him meeting with the head Mayan.

He watches Zobelle and his guy leave the meeting with a small duffel after less than twenty minutes.

* * *

He sits in the marina parking lot, waiting. He watches as Cameron drives off with a tail.

When he sees Stahl, he grabs his gone and heads to her.

He finds her sitting in her car on the phone.

"Hang up and get out." he growls pointing the gun in her face.

She closes the phones and slowly stands. He grabs the phone and throws it.

"Opie, I'm not sure what this is about but..."

"Shut your mouth." he snarls at her.

"You going to kill me? Hmmm?" Stahl says with a smirk.

He just glares at her not saying a word, clenching his jaw.

"This about me threatening your kids with foster care or...you found something out about Donna?" she says when she notices the coldness of his eyes.

"DON'T say her name!" he screams at her.

Stahl can slowly feel the fear coming up her spine. "What do..do you want from me?" she asks shakily when she notices that his gun isn't wavering.

"I want you to feel what me and my family feel." he tells her coldly.

"You or your family wasn't suppose to get hurt. I underestimated Clay..."

"DON'T! Do not try to blame someone else for you mistake!"

She starts to shake but tries not to let him see it, "I'll take the guilt. I'll gladly take my share."

"Donna was a wonderful mother and innocent. That's who you killed." he points the gun right in her face. He pops the clip from his gun and lets her see that its empty. He places the clip in her hand. "The outlaw had mercy. The next time you twist the truth, remember that." he moves away from her and stalks off.

If he had looked back, he would have seen her crumble to the ground in tears.

* * *

He and Embry get back to the clubhouse at the same time. He notices that Opie's truck is back in the lot.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he heads in to find him.

"Been looking for you." he says when he finds Opie in one of the bedrooms.

"Didn't kill her. Was tempted, though." he tells him sitting down on the bed. Jax enters the room, closing the door behind him and sits on the only chair in the room.

"This thing between you and Clay...it was about Donna?" he asks.

"I couldn't tell you. Losing her was bad enough..Bella and I agreed..."

"Bella knew...she's known this whole time." he asks standing.

"Yeah, man. We both did."

He nods, hurt but he gets it. "The way my head was at, not telling me was the smart way to go. What do I do? How the hell am I suppose to wear the same patch as Clay and Tig? How can I handle knowing that the woman I love is related to the man responsible for the death of my wife?" he asks as he starts to pace.

"Clay is Clay because of us. The club made him."

"How do we unmake him? Without causing Gemma or Bella pain?"

"I've been trying to figure that out for months...with Bella. I need help man."

"I'm here, brother." he says as Jax stands and the give each other a 'man' hug.

"Got something you should read." Jax tells him. "After you call Bella." he says with a grin.

He laughs falling back onto the bed, "She has to be royally pissed at me right now."

Jax leaves the room as he takes out his phone.

"Opie." she growls answering.

He grimaces at the sound of her voice. "You heard."

"She alive or dead?"

"She's still alive but I said what I needed to say."

"You have more mercy than I do. I've been going out of my mind for hours." she says softly.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too. I wanted to tell you so many times but..."

"Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you. Thank you for not telling me. I wasn't ready."

She sniffles softly, "I love you too."

* * *

He's sitting on the roof, reading the manuscript when Clay and the others return.

After a little while, he heads downstairs and joins Jax in chapel with Clay, Bobby and Tig.

"How does the club killing my wife...how does that ever get made right?" he asks looking at Clay.

"We want to fix this." Clay tells him.

"Me, too. I'm staying but this...it dies here."

"Okay."

"I don't want anyone else knowing about this. Doesn't help me, my kids, Bella or the club if this gets out." he tells them.

"Understood." Clay says and is about to turn to Tig when he notices that Opie looks like he has something else to say. "Something on your mind?"

He swallows roughly, "When I was following Stahl...I saw Chibs come out of a ATF office with paperwork."

"Shit." Jax, Bobby and Clay say.

"We need to hear him out, get the truth and trust what he tells us."

Clay nods in agreement.

"Anything else?" Clay asks looking at them.

Jax nods.

* * *

"Zobelle's in bed with the Mayans?" Bobby asks in utter amazement after he tells them.

"Alvarez is in H. What's Zobelle's gain?" Clay wonders confused.

"That's it." he says, it finally clicking in. "It's the missing piece."

"This was never about race." Opie says figuring it out as well.

"Zobelle wanted the guns to control the H traffic. By feeding the guns to the Mayans, he was making sure that white controlled the trade." he tells them.

"I wonder how that goes over with Weston? Him and his guys are hardcore color haters." Tig says putting in his two cents.

"Weston wasn't there." he says.

"Zobelle doing deals behind his lieutenant's back..We can use that." Clay says smirking.

Chibs enters, looking upset, "Can I have a word?"

Clay motions for him to sit down. Sighing he starts, "Stahl..she played on my hate for Jimmy. I was going to give him up for Fiona and Kerrianne's saftey plus immunity for the club."

"Jesus." he, Jax and Tig mutter.

Clay and Bobby just shake their heads, waiting.

"I didn't take the deal but I guess Edmond turned on his old man. Stahl let me know that if she gets Cameron to give up Jimmy, she's going to let him think that I put the whole thing in motion. I'm sorry boys." Chibs says breaking down slightly.

"You didn't take the deal. You're no rat." Clay says.

"We'll figure out a way to make this right with Jimmy..nothing is gonna happen to your family." Jax tells him.

"Thank you, boys." Chibs says, feeling like a weight had been lifted.

Piney chooses that moment to burst in and starts firing his gun at Clay.

Luckily he misses and the others are able to disarm Piney.

Clay, astounded, reacts by wanting to rough Piney up.

Its the entire club to keep them seperated.

"Give me the room!" he yells. "Let me talk to him."

Clay nods and leaves him to talk to his dad.

* * *

She rushes into the clubhouse, Embry right at her heels and the first thing she does is head straight to Clay, hugging him.

"You okay?" she asks shakily.

Clay nods. He looks over her head and exchanges a look with Jax.

"Bella? How?"

"Bry called me. Said Piney showed up and heard gunshots." she says slowly letting Clay go.

Jax nods in understanding. He nods at the closed doors.

Opie chooses that moment to come out of chapel. She moves around the bar and he wraps his arms around her.

"He's a crazy old man." he says to Clay. "You have ever right to make him go away." he takes a deep breath and lets go of her, "This was about protecting me. He feared that I was going to kill you."

Clay nods. He looks at her before sighing, "I get it."

"Uncle Clay?" she asks softly.

"Tell him to go home." Clay says.

He nods and heads back to where Piney is sitting, "Go home, Pop."

Piney nods and heads to leave.

"Hey old man." Clay calls out when he passes him. Piney turns to look at him. "Don't ever come into this clubhouse without your kutte."

Understanding comes over him and he tries not to breath a sigh of relief, "It won't happen again." he says and continues out.

* * *

As they leave the clubhouse, Tara comes up and wraps her arms around Jax. Opie has one arm over her shoulders and she leans into his body as they walk.

"It's been a long day, ladies be good to them." Clay says to both of them.

"She's in the office." Tara calls out to him but he heads to the bikes.

They watch as Tig runs after him and says something to him.

"Wonder what that's about?" Tara asks watching as Clay changes direction and heads to the office after exchanging a hug with Tig.

She looks at Embry, who smiles when Clay closes the door. After a few minutes, he leans down and whispers in her ear, "Tig told him what she feared, how she thinks he doesn't want her any longer. So he just went in there and let her know that he wants his wife."

She smiles softly, thankful that things are getting better.


	13. Chapter 13

She packs up her, Opie and the kids bags, making sure to put in a few weeks worth of clothes plus some toys and books.

Embry and Quil are keeping the kids busy while Opie and Paul load up the truck with supplies.

* * *

Tara packs up her medical supplies while Jax packs Abel's diaper bag.

* * *

Gemma and Luann load up the back of the station wagon with food and drinks.

* * *

Clay and Tig look over the weapons and ammo.

* * *

She pulls onto the lot behind Tara's car. The kids in the backseat look up on top of the buildings to see guys they don't know watching over them, carrying guns. Ellie and Kenny exchange a worried look and Kenny places his hand on Piper's shoulder when the little boy lets out a soft whimper.

The lot is full with multiple charters of SOA.

She gets out of the truck as Jax, Opie, Paul, Quil and Embry pull onto the lot. Juice runs over to Jax.

"Everyone's in." Juice tells him as she and Tara get the kids out of their vehicles.

"Lock it down." Jax tells him and Juice gives a motion to the guys near the gate and within moments the gate closes with cars being used as an extra barricade.

Opie comes over to her, picking up Piper who is looking a little scared. "Hey it's okay, buddy." he says softly as Kenny and Ellie also get close to him as all of them head inside the clubhouse.

Bella and Tara head to rooms they know are their's for the time being and drop off their stuff before heading back out into the main room. Each head right to their family.

Jax stands with his mom and Clay. Tara, holding Abel right next to him.

She, Opie and the kids stand on the other side of Clay. Opie is still holding Piper and Ellie is leaning into her while Kenny stands between her and Ope, trying to look like he isn't afraid or worried.

Paul, Embry and Quil are standing right behind them. She notices that the three of them are getting looks since none of them are wearing a kutte.

Jax gives a nod to Tig, who whistles to get everyone to quiet down.

"Everybody! Listen up!" he yells.

"I want to welcome you all to Club Reaper." Clay calls out standing on a chair so everyone can see him. "Luckily, you made your reservations early, cause as you can see we are filled to capacity."

She looks around to see that besides other charters, there are a lot of kids and women. Now she's thankful for the room she hoped Quil set up.

"You're here because you are family..and SAMCRO takes care of its own." he places and hand on Gemma's shoulder. "Next couple of days, this club's got things to handle that could place our members and people connected to us in unfriendly situations. Now hopefully nothing will happen but people have already been hurt on my watch." he looks at Gemma, Chibs and Luann.

Luann is standing next to Bobby and a few of her girls that have children.

"And I am not letting that happen again." Clay continues. "No one gets in. No one leaves without an escort. You have a safety concern talk to Piney." Piney lifts the shotgun he is holding so people can see him. "You have a comfort concern talk to me queen." Clay says lifting Gemma hand to his mouth and kissing it. "You have a worry about your kids, talk to my niece, Bella." she lifts the hand off Ellie's back to show them where she is. She notices a few of Luann's girls breath easier about a teacher being there. "Under this roof, you will be safe. I love you all." Clay says finishing as he gets off the chair. Everyone starts to roam around the room. Clay gives Gemma a kiss before heading to Chapel. He gives her a quick hug when he passes her.

Opie puts Piper down and he runs off with Kenny and Ellie after the other kids.

"Bella..." Luann calls out to her.

She gives Ope a quick kiss before he heads to Chapel and heads over to Luann. She hugs Luann when she reaches her, "How are you doing?"

"Good, still a little sore." Luann says softly as other moms join them.

"There are a lot of kids here, how are we going to keep them occupied?" one of the moms asks.

"Quil!" she calls out. He comes right over a huge grin on his face. "You set up what I asked?"

"Yeah, Half-Sack helped. It's all set up." he tells them with a smile.

"We organized one of the rooms into a playroom for the kids. A few TVs, game systems, books, toys and games. For various ages." she added when she saw one of the moms start to open her mouth. "Can you round up the kids and get them settled?" she asks turning to Quil.

He nods and heads off to start.

"Is it really a good idea to have all the kids in one area?" another mom asks as she watches her kids join the others as they follow Quil out of the main room.

"There will be a guard in the room and at the door at all times. Plus the older kids will look out for the little ones." she says watching as Tara hands Abel over to a teenage boy that is heading to the back room to join the rest of the kids.

The moms nod, breathing a little easier.

* * *

"All right. What do we got?" Clay says sitting down as the rest of the guys join him in Chapel before shutting the door.

"We have the ammo, all we need is the AKs." Tig says from where he is standing.

"We got two cases at the safe house..Only problem, ATF is watching and waiting for Cameron to show up." Clay adds.

"And when he does that ATF bitch, Stahl is going to make it so Jimmy O thinks that I'm the rat." Chibs says still upset.

"We will protect your family. I've already put word into McGee in Belfast. Club is watching over Kerrianne." Clay tells him.

"You might want to reach out to Fiona, if you feel up to it. Bring her in and we'll keep her safe." Bobby adds.

Jax hides his smirk, "Ma and Bella will just love that." he mutters.

Clay nods in understanding.

"Jimmy watches her. He knows everything she does, every little move she makes. I still love her but she made her choice. As long as Kerrianne is safe, it's all that matters." Chibs says his heart hurting even though he knows what he is saying is right.

"We might have a way to get our guns and make Jimmy see who the real rat is." Jax says with a nod to Unser, who has been sitting in this whole time.

Unser places a folder on the table. "Grabbed these before AFT left."

The folder is full of AFT surveillance photos showing Cameron and Edmond meeting with Zobelle.

"We show those to Jimmy, make him think that Cameron and Edmond have been under ATF's thumb all this time and it should convince him that the betrayal is in-house." he tells them.

"Okay but how do we get our guns from the safe house?" Bobby asks.

"Bait and switch." Clay tells them. "We'll go see the Irish. You, Ope and Juice start spreading the racial harmony gossip."

He nods.

They all get up to leave until only Tig, Bobby Clay and Chibs are left in the room as Half-Sack leaves.

"Sack? What happened?" Clay asks noticing that the prospect is walking normal again.

"My body rejected the implant." he says shrugging before leaving the room.

"Where he at?" Clay asks Chibs.

"His year is up...hmmm...in a month." Chibs says.

"How is everybody feeling about patching him in?" Clay asks.

They nod in agreement.

"We gonna be getting a new prospect?" Tig asks nodding out the door at Embry, who is talking with Opie and Jax.

"Not sure yet." Clay says watching. He likes the kid and his thankful for him and the two others that showed up but part of him feels like the three of them are hiding something.

* * *

Jax, Opie, and Juice park their Harleys in front of Impeccable Smokes as Weston comes out of the store with two grunts behind him.

"You need to get out of my sight before I do you some serious harm for the upset that you caused my kids." Weston tells Jax.

"Junior's a psychopath." Jax mutters loud enough for Weston to hear.

Weston moves forward.

He pulls Jax back a little, "Here to educate only."

Jax nods even though he's right behind him on beating Weston to a pulp. Even happy go lucky Juice seems ready to do a beat down.

"Seems your great white hope only gives a rat's ass about one color..green. He's dealing heroin with the Mayans."

"Those AKs you took from us, he gave them to them to control the street." he adds.

Weston scoffs, "You're talking out of your ass..."

"Really? The other day I followed Zobelle and one of your grunts. They met with Alvarez and left with a duffel of H." Jax says with a smirk.

"Guess they've been keeping you out of the loop..since you're a true believer and all." Juice adds with an evil smirk.

Weston seethes with rage and doubt, "You need to leave."

They head to their bikes.

"Say hi to Junior for me." Jax snarks as they rev the bikes and leave.

* * *

Gemma is watching the monitors above the bar when she and Tara join her.

"Refill?" a random girl asks and at her nod starts filling up Gemma's coffee cup.

"You want some coffee, dolls?" she asks her and Tara.

"I can get it." Tara says trying to wave her off.

"Please." she says.

The girl smiles, "I got it. Cream and sugar."

She nods.

"Alright, black, two sugars." Tara says as the girl walks off.

"Tara, they need to do that. It shows respect." Gemma says.

Tara rolls her eyes.

"You are Jax Teller's old lady not some crow eater." she says.

"And you are Opie's old lady and the niece of their President." Gemma says smiling at her. "That means something in this clubhouse and this town. People need to show both of you respect and neither of you take shit from anyone." Gemma tells them.

The girl returns with both of their coffees. She notices that Tara drinks hers with a smile.

* * *

Clay, Jax and the other sit down with the heads of the Asian and Niner gangs.

"Past couple months have been hell..For all of us." Clay starts. "Losing more than half your territory to brown, Sons struggling to reboot weapons..business being burned down."

"Our connect is back on-line. Our supply is being restocked." Lin says.

"So? That's it? You can defend what little you got left. What about what you lost? You're gonna need help." Jax says.

"We're not looking for partners." Lin says.

"Neitha are we." Laroy says.

Jas scoffs, "Not talking about a partnership."

"More like an understanding. All of us have the same enemy." Clay says.

"Alvarez is running proxy for a bigger player." Jax says.

"Ethan Zobelle, backed by the AB... League of American Nationalists." Clay says.

"Shit." Laroy mutters.

"All they ever talk about is God's plan for a free world without color." Lin mutters.

"Or SAMCRO. He's trying to push us out of our own town."

"Zobelle is the one arming the Mayans. We stop him, Mayans lose their guns and their power." Jax tells them. "We wipe them out and split up their territory."

"Henry, you get everything south of Ghosttown while Niners get everything north." Clay adds.

"Friendly borders mean we can focus on business." Lin says.

Laroy nods in agreement.

"All right." Clay says and they shake on it.

* * *

Paul comes over to her and Gemma. There isn't many people in the main room at the moment. Tara is feeding Abel while she helps Piper with his reading, Kenny and Ellienwere off in the playroom with Quil and the other kids .

"Gemma, there's some guy asking to be let in. Says he has information we'll want." Paul tells her.

"Take Piney to the gate." Gemma tells him.

A short time later, Piney returns with the others and a guy she knows.

"Chucky, where the hell have you been?" she asks standing, motioning for Piper to head to the playroom and heading over to him.

"I'm sorry." Chucky stutters, its than that she notices his hands are worse than before.

"Tara!" she yells out as she helps him sit down.

* * *

Jax and Clay walk in to find Tara treating Chucky's hands with everyone watching.

"Ointment needs to be put on these every few hours." Tara tells him. They had removed his old bandages to find his hands badly burned.

"Man, who did you piss off?" Embry asks looking at the fact that Chucky only has one finger on each hand.

"My personality is in a way that you either love me or hate. No middle ground." Chucky says with a goofy grin.

"He showed up at the gate. Seems he has some information to tell us about Caracara." Piney tells them.

She stays right where she is curled in Opie's side while Tara puts new bandages on Chucky's hands.

"Come on, we got errands to run." Gemma says when Tara finishes. Gemma gives Clay a kiss while Tara kisses Jax.

"You coming?" Tara asks looking back at her.

"Why don't you get out of here for a little bit." Opie whispers in her ear.

"Okay." she mouth to him before giving him a kiss and grabbing her bag.

"Take someone with you." Jax, Clay and Ope all call after them.

"Always." she says with a grin over her shoulder.

Piney stands up and follows after them, "I'll put someone on them."

They wait until they are out of the clubhouse before turning to Chucky.

"What happened?" Clay asks sitting on one of the stools.

"There was like four of them. Uh, had Aryan ink...think one was called West..Westing?" Chucky tells them.

"Weston?" Jax asks.

"Yeah, that could have been it." Chucky says nodding.

"Son of a bitch." Jax mutters.

"They splashed gas everywhere and set it on fire."

"Could you identify Weston?" Bobby asks.

Chucky nods.

"If Chucky here happens to share this information, we would be able to collect on our fire insurance." Bobby says.

"Do it." Clay agrees.

"Hey, go wait in the chief's car. Play with the siren." Jax says to Chucky.

Chucky nods like a little kid at Christmas and leaves.

"Seed has been planted with Weston. Now knows that Zobelle is in with the Mayans... just need a little help inciting him." Jax says to Unser.

Unser nods in understanding on what will send Weston over the edge.

* * *

Gemma plays with the virgin Mary statue on the dashboard as Tara drives.

"When did you go Catholic?" Gemma asks.

"I'm not. Just a little superstitious lately." Tara says.

"Aunt Gemma, you talk to someone? 'Cause you seem at peace." she says looking at Gemma, who has seemed like a weight had been lifted.

"Yeah. Either of you believe in God?" Gemma asks turning to look at both of them.

"Something." Tara says.

"I believe that there is something that connects all of us. Helps us when we need it." she says thinking about _Taha Aki_.

"You?" Tara asks.

"I believe that we all got a job to do."

"Fate..." Tara states.

"Service. Our lot in life, for you, Tara, it's medicine. You're a healer. For you, Bella...it's being the protector. God save anyone that goes after someone you love."

"It's family, for you." Tara says looking at Gemma out the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, God wants me to be this fierce mother. That is my path. Don't let anyone or anything keep you from your path." Gemma says.

* * *

Jax, Opie and Juice pull into the police station parking lot as the child protection services van rolls out. Weston is standing there, livid.

"See your kids are taking the little trip I made sure happened." Jax says walking up to Weston with a smirk on his face. He and Juice standing right next to him.

"You prick, I'll kill you slowly for this." Weston says getting in his face.

Jax drops the smirk, "At least I didn't gang rape them." he snarls.

Weston swallows as understanding comes over him. "You want to kill me? Fine, time and place."

"Timberland. Eight. Your ten against mine."

"Access road L-4, off the main lumber drive." he tells him.

"No weapon. No witnesses." Juice growls out.

"One of us goes home in a bag." Jax growls out.

"I'll be there." Weston says, walking off when they notice that Hale is starting their way.

* * *

After getting the all clear from Chucky, they collect their guns from the safe house.

* * *

Jax and the others head to the Surplus store like planned.

They have only been inside a few minutes before Stahl and other ATF agents swarm in. The guys get on the ground pretending not to know what is about to happen.

One of the ATF guys brings the driver into the main room since he was the only one in the SUV that AFT had followed there.

"Get that Irish prick in here." Stahl snarls at one of the agents. "Get them up."

Chibs and the others get up.

"Where's Jimmy?" Stahl asks Chibs since he is closest to her.

"Jimmy who?" he asks playing dumb.

It must have pissed her off, since she backhands him.

"Whoever this Jimmy is, she must not like him much." Jax jokes to the others. He smirks but standing behind her he's having a hard time not knocking her out and wrapping his hands around her throat.

Edmund enters the store the same time the ATF agents out back bring the crates into the room.

"Open it!" Stahl yells, pissed off.

Edmund starts whimpering when the crates are opened, empty save the two dead rats.

Each of them smirk at the fear on Edmond's face.

Reluctantly, Stahl moves out of the way so they can leave.

The Sons walk out, satisfied.

* * *

While Gemma is filling prescriptions down in the pharmacy, she sits waiting for Tara in a random office.

"I'm almost done." Tara tells her when Margaret walks in.

"What are you doing here?" she asks walking past like she owns the place.

"Just finishing my charts." Tara says. She can tell that she is gritting her teeth.

"Those should have been done by now." the witch says.

Tara doesn't even respond.

"Well, by next week you'll more than likey not have to worry about paperwork." Margaret says with a smirk, turning and seeing that Tara isn't alone.

She gives Tara a smirk and leans forward.

"I pity you." Tara says turning to Margaret. "You walk around with your little degree, pretending that you know anything about medicine. You are nothing but a cheap suit."

"Too dumb to get into med school." she adds full of snark.

"So to make yourself feel important, you make the healers jump through hoops." Tara finishes, standing.

Margaret scoffs, "Looks like someone's true colors are showing. Not really surprises with these biker whores that you..."

Tara beats her to the bitch, by slamming her against the filing cabinet, her hand wrapped around her throat. She quickly closes and locks both doors, making sure there is no way out.

"You don't know them. So keep your mouth shut." Tara snarls before letting her go.

"I'm calling security.." Margaret says and starts reaching for the phone. "This is assault."

She grabs the phone and moves it out of her reach while Tara shoves her away.

"Nonono..that wasn't assault. This is assault." Tara says before punching and breaking her nose. While Margaret falls to the ground, Tara searches through her purse and takes out her gun, checking it.

She squats down in front of Margaret, "We know where you live, where your kids go to school and like to play. The cops, they are on SAMCRO's payroll. This town belongs to us. I dare you to say one thing about this." she giggles with a sinister smile before standing and moving next to Tara.

"Also drop that bogus claim against me. There are a lot of people that need my help." she says dropping her gun back into her bag and walks out.

"What are you waiting for? Get to it." she says with a smirk and follows Tara out.

* * *

Dusk is starting to fall, and she, Gemma and Tara are clinging to their men.

"Be safe." she whispers against Opie's mouth.

"I'll come home to you and our kids." he whispers before kissing her.

"I love you." Clay says softly to Gemma.

"Be careful, baby." Gemma says before kissing him again.

Tara doesn't say a word, she just kisses him like she is dying.

Reluctantly, they move away from their girls and head to their bikes and within moments there is a parade of Harleys roaring into battle.

Gemma wraps her arms around her and Tara. "Let's get them inside."

She nods and wiping the tears out of her eyes, slowly starts helping herd everyone inside.

* * *

After making sure that her kids are okay she slips into her room and strips.

"What are you thinking?" Paul says slipping into the room as she slips on a pair of dark jeans.

"Doing what needs to be done." she says pulling her hair back.

"Embry is with your boys and Quil is with your kids were you planning on telling me or were you going to slip out when no one was looking?" he snarls at her.

She pulls on the long sleeve black shirt and finger-less gloves before sitting down to put on a pair of knee high boots with a small heel. "I was planning on you bringing me."

He just scoffs and nods.

* * *

The guys speed down the highway to the meeting place on the outskirts of town. They wait as night falls.

Clay scoffs when Weston rolls up with nearly twenty guys all with guns.

"Looks like you couldn't handle a fair fight." Jax scoffs.

"Fair is for losers. I'd rather win." Weston says with a sneer.

Jax smiles ruthlessly and nods to Tig, "Ditto."

Tig lets out a shrill whistle.

Laroy and the Niners and all of the Asian gang come out of the woods, armed to the teeth.

Clay smirks, "Put your weapons down."

Weston seeing that they are outgunned, motion for his crew to lay the guns down.

With a nod at each other, SAMCRO rushes them. Jax heads right for Weston.

Embry growls from his spot in the woods, waiting and wanting to join the fray. He feels the anger from the rest of them pack back in Washington, watching with him.

_One fuck up and that ass gets his head ripped off. ~ Leah_

_You see the shit that ass tried to pull_

_Stay there, bro. I have a feeling you'll be able to take a chunk out of him ~ Sam_

_Where are Paul and Quil? ~ Jake_

_With Bella and the pups back at the Clubhouse_

He lets out a yip of encouragement when he notices Tig take a chunk out of some guys ear. He hears a roar in his head as the others join him.

_Fuck. Sirens._

He gets himself lower to the ground.

* * *

She enters the store and pulls the blinds down, so no one on Main Street can look in. The store is empty but she can hear someone moving around out back.

"Oh, I'm sorry is there something I can help you with?" the blond says when she enters to store.

"You have no idea who I am do you?" she asks coming close to counter, resting her hands on it.

"Sorry..I don't." blondie stutters slightly.

She smiles slowly and gets right in her face. "You are the reason that bastard got his hands on my aunt."

Blondie tries to move away but she grabs the back of her head, twisting her fingers in her hair and slams her face on the counter.

* * *

The club is winning when sirens approach. The armed gangs take off as the fight breaks up.

"Go! Collect everyone!" Weston yells, blood running down his face.

Jax shoves Weston, "You're not goin' anywhere. We're not done."

Hale pulls up as Weston's guys speed off.

He gets out of his truck and takes in the sight of Weston and SAMCRO.

"Holy shit." he mutters.

"This don't concern you." Clay tells him.

"Nothing is happening, leave." Weston adds, barely able to stand straight.

"AJ Weston, you're under arrest for suspicion of arson." Hale says going over to put cuffs on Weston.

"What?" Jax asks in shock.

Hale ignores him as he moves Weston over to another officer.

"Call Unser." Clay says to Tig as Jax stalks over to his bike. "Tell him to move on the cigar shop."

* * *

Unser tells him officers to head back to the station. He waits until the car is out of sight before moving towards the store. That's when he notices one of Bella's friends waiting by the door and that the blinds are down.

The guy gives him a smirk before moving away from the door.

Unser goes in to find Bella repeatingly kicking Polly, who is in a little ball on the ground.

"Bella! It's closing time. Give it a rest." he says to her before turning the sign to closed and sitting down.

"Please...help." Polly whimpers out.

Unser sits there, looking like he is debating, "No." he says before grabbing a nearby cigar and lighting it. Bella steps over Polly and sits down in the other chair, staring at the sobbing girl with a pleased smile.

Clay, Jax, and the others enter the cigar store a short time later. Paul is right behind them smirking.

"Nice work." Clay says looking at Polly, who is now sitting in the middle of the room, blood cakes under her nose, bruises all over, tear streaks running down her face.

"Thanks." she says standing. "She claims not to know where daddy is. Your turn." she says with glee. She goes over to Polly and forces her to stand by pulling on her hair.

"Where is father?" Clay asks when Bella moves away.

"I don't know." Polly sobs.

Clay slaps her hard across the face, and grabs her by the hair, forcing her to stand still. Bella stares at the girl with a look of pure hatred.

Clay takes his 9mm out and slides it up the inside of her thigh until it is aimed right up her skirt.

"I would get daddy on the phone or he is going to hear us torturing you to death." Clay growls out.

"Whoa, Clay!" Unser says standing.

"Don't protect her." Bella snarls, "She's just like all of them. No one innocent would set someone up to be gang raped."

She moves around her uncle and Polly until she is standing behind Polly. She wraps her hand around her neck making sure to dig her nails in.

Clay and the others smirk at the venom in her stance. Tig looks on with a look of pure glee on his face.

Zobelle chooses that moment to enter, only to be grabbed by Tig before he can run back out.

"Well, well. Welcome back." Clay says going over to them since she had a hold of Polly.

"What do you want?" Zobelle asks as Clay takes a hold of him.

"We need to have a little chat..outside of Charming."

"You're just going to stand there and let this happen?" Zobelle asks in scorn towards Unser.

"Nothing's happened that he needs to stop." Bella says with a evil smile, making sure to keep Polly staring at her dad. "Don't worry, I won't let you miss a thing. I am no way near done with you." she sneers into Polly's ear loud enough for everyone to hear.

_My woman is hot when she's pissed_ he thinks adjusting himself. Out the corner of his eye, he notices that he isn't the only one enjoying her show of force.

"No." Zobelle refuses shaking his head.

"Move." Clay snarls pushing Zobelle to the door.

"You want to kill me, do it right here. Right on Main Street." Zobelle tries to stall.

Clay scoffs and kicks Zobelle's knee out from under him so that he is forced to fall onto floor.

"Alright, I was just trying to accommodate our friend with the badge." he aims his gun right to his temple.

She giggles softly and refuses to let Polly look away gripping her hair, "I'm a vengeful bitch. You people made me find her beaten and raped, you don't get to look away."

Just then Hale and his deputies bust in. Clay quickly holsters his gun.

"Deputy! Please help us! They're holding us hostage and have threatened our lives. You need to arrest them."

"I've got this, Deputy." Unser says. "There has been no crime here and there won't be one."

"Deputy..." Zobelle starts, "My daughter and I are...are in possession of heroin. They're under the register in the middle drawer."

A officer that came in through the back, pulls a brick of heroin out.

"Arrest us!" Zobelle yells as Polly starts sobbing louder.

Hale thinks about it, looking at her and Jax, but arrests them.

"Cuff them." Hale tells the two officers with him.

Bella glares at the officer that pulls Polly out of her hold.

"We're gonna kill you." Jax says, leaning in close as Zobelle is being cuffed.

Glaring at them being cuffed, she stalks out behind Jax. The others slowly follow.

He wraps his arms around her and she leans into him as Jax gets on his bike, all of them stewing in anger.


	14. Chapter 14

_**"Deputy! Please help us! They're holding us hostage and have threatened our lives. You need to arrest them."** _

_**"I've got this, Deputy." Unser says. "There has been no crime here and there won't be one."** _

_**"Deputy..." Zobelle starts, "My daughter and I are...are in possession of heroin. They're under the register in the middle drawer."** _

_**A officer that came in through the back, pulls a brick of heroin out.** _

_**"Arrest us!" Zobelle yells as Polly starts sobbing louder.** _

_**Hale thinks about it, looking at her and Jax, but arrests them.** _

_**"Cuff them." Hale tells the two officers with him.** _

_**Bella glares at the officer that pulls Polly out of her hold.** _

_**"We're gonna kill you." Jax says, leaning in close as Zobelle is being cuffed.** _

_**Glaring at them being cuffed, she stalks out behind Jax. The others slowly follow.** _

_**He wraps his arms around her and she leans into him as Jax gets on his bike, all of them stewing in anger.** _

* * *

SAMCRO watchs as the two deputies place Zobelle and Polly in their squad cars.

With a nod to Paul, as she gets on behind Opie, all of them get on their bikes and follow the squad cars back to the police station.

* * *

The sun is shining when Unser finally comes out a few hours later, all of them lounging on the steps waiting for news.

Gemma, Tara, Embry and Quil had joined them at the station when she called them to let them know what was going on. They had arrived shortly after the call.

"So?" Clay asks after the few that were sleeping woke up enough to hear what is going on.

"Stahl has been locked in a room with the FBI, since we got here. No clue what's going on in there." Unser tells them.

"What about Weston?" Jax asks as Tara wraps an arm around his waist and leans into him.

"Still waiting on the DA. Sorry." Unser apologizes before heading back inside.

"Why don't you head back to the clubhouse? They're gonna need you there." Clay says softly to Gemma helping her stand up.

"Okay but you come home to me." Gemma says to him before she starts kissing him.

She turns in Ope's arms to kiss him.

"Stay with my ma and Bella, please." Jax whispers to Tara.

Tara nods before giving him a quick kiss.

"Sack, stay with them." Jax says.

Sack nods.

She gives Paul and Quil a look and they head to their bikes to follow them. Embry nods when she passes, letting her know without words that he'll stay with Jax and Opie.

* * *

He looks up from his spot on the hood of a squad car when Unser comes back out.

"Comfortable?" Unser asks Tig who is laying on the roof of a squad car.

Tig just smirks before getting down.

Embry comes over and stands next to him, he shakes his head when he thinks that it looks like Embry is vibrating slightly.

"What?" Jax asks.

"Bad day for law enforcement. Seems Weston and Zobelle are walking."

"How?" he asks confused.

"Guess Chucky's testimony isn't going to hold up and.." he scoffs, "Zobell has been working for the FBI all along."

"A rat." Jax and Clay hiss.

"Trading senators and the AB shot-callers for his cushy lifestyle." Unser tells the, clearly annoyed.

"Get word to Otto. Help keep us protected inside and hopefully stops any backlash over Weston." Clay tells Jax.

Jax nods, and after a one armed hug with Clay, starts to head to his bike. "Weston's mine." Jax tells Tig when he passes him.

Tig nods in understanding.

"Jax!" he calls when he notices Hale come out with Zobelle and his daughter.

Each one of them smirk when it's clear that Bella gave Polly a good beat down by the amount of bruises on her and the fact that she is limping.

Each frown when they hear the bikes, looking down the road a group of Mayans, led by Alvarez appear.

"Well, fuck." is heard from all of them.

Zobelle and his daughter get in their car after a nod to Haleand drive off, Mayans protection them.

Unser watches as SAMCRO gets on their bikes and follows.

_**War has come to Charming.** _

* * *

Jax and Luann end up getting to the prison at the same time to visit Otto.

"Who's with you?" Jax asks as they head to a table and sit down.

"Don't know his name. Piney sent him with me." Luann tells him sitting opposite of him.

He nods and they wait for someone to lead Otto to their table.

"How you doing?" Jax asks once Otto is sitting down. Luann is right next to him, holding his hand and leaning into him.

"Lightened work detail and books on tape." Otto says slowly removing the tape over his eye to reveal that it is gone. Luann quickly covers her mouth to keep her soft cry of dismay quiet.

"Not gonna push in on your visit so I'll get right to it. It's time for retribution. Got some intel the aryan shot-callers are gonna want to know." Jax says leaning forward.

"Hit me." Otto says.

* * *

On the main street of Charming, Mayans and Sons line the road, parked, staring daggers at each other with deputies in between.

Clay and Alvarez stalk each other from the sidelines.

* * *

Jax joins the others on Main Street.

"Got Otto downloaded." he tells Clay as Unser joins them. "Weston out yet?"

"Yeah, Eglee is going to be giving him an escort out of town after a drop-by to see his kids." Unser tells him.

"So we catch him at family services." Embry growls out. Jax smirks and nods as Embry gets on his bike to follow him there.

"No harm to my officier." Unser tells them.

"Let's go, brother." Opie says getting on his bike.

"Me too." Chibs says and after a nod from Clay follows after the three of them.

Clay and the rest keep an eye on Zobelle and the Mayans.

* * *

In the prison library, Otto listens to a book on tape while another inmate whacks the Aryan that took his eye with a brick. He hands Otto a shiv and leads him to the downed Aryan. He returns the eye gouging with a lethal stab to the neck.

* * *

She, Gemma and Tara load up into Tara's car. She sits in the back with Abel. With so many charters around, she feels okay leaving Piper, Ellie and Kenny with Piney and Mary.

Paul, Quil and Half-Sack follow them out of the lot as the guards close the lot back up after they leave.

"Bella, you going to explain how you were already with the boys this morning finally?" Gemma asks turning to look at her.

"Needed to have a little discussion with Polly Zobelle." she says with a smirk.

Gemma nods understanding, smiling softly. Tara just looks at the two of them in confusion.

"Tara, I think Abel might be starting to teeth." she says laughing when Abel starts biting her fingers.

Tara laughs, "There is a teething ring in his bag."

Smiling she gets it out, "Here you go, pup." she says softly with a smile giving him a teething ring that looks like a biscuit and rubbing his belly as he smiles with a grin around it.

* * *

Outside the San Joaquin CFS office, Jax and the others wait for Weston to come out.

"Here we go." Jax says turning on the van when Weston comes out.

"Shit." Opie says when one of Weston's kids follow him.

"What is he doing with the kid?" Embry asks, his body vibrating in slight anger.

"Call Unser, find out what's going on." Jax tells Chibs in the back seat as he follows after Weston and the kid.

* * *

"Okay, thanks." Chibs says before leaning forward. "So it seems that someone had the bright idea to give him a supervised visit with Unser's cop as the chaperone."

"And he takes him for ink." Jax scoffs looking over at the tattoo parlor that they followed Weston to.

"Wonderful." Embry snarks.

"Seems little Cliffie couldn't go. Has to redo his psych eval." Chibs says with a smirk.

Jax and Embry each laugh at that.

"Alright. Weston, Freddy and his woman doing ink, one other customer, the kid and the cop." Opie says as he gets back into the van after looking in to see who was in the shop.

"Who's doing Weston?" Embry asks.

"Freddy."

"He a friend?" Jax asks.

"I think so."

"We need to get Weston away from his kid." Jax says.

Opie sits there debating, "I'll call Freddy."

"Do it." Jax says.

He takes out his phone and dials.

**This is Freddy**

"It's Opie. SAMCRO. Need a favor."

**Uh huh**

"Guy on your table, the club wants him. Raped a member's mother, threatened to do the same to my old lady."

**What you need?**

"Get him clear of the kid and the cop. In five minutes, give him a reason to go to the bathroom."

**I got no problem with that**

"Club will owe you one." Opie says before hanging up.

He nods at the others.

"Let's go." Jax says as they sneak in the back and lay in wait for Weston to come into the bathroom. A silencer already on the barrel of his 9mm.

When Weston walks in, they quickly hid their guns when they notice that Weston's son is with him.

_Bella will kill us if we do this in front of him ~_ Embry thinks to himself.

"It's okay, Dukey." Weston says moving his son next to him.

"Get rid of him." Opie snarls just loud enough for Weston to hear from behind him.

Weston nods and turns to his son, "Head back, kiddo. I need to talk to these guys. Say nothing, no matter what. Understand?" the kid nods. "Don't ever talk to cops. I love you." Weston says before hugging his son and sends him out of the bathroom.

Weston waits a moment before turning to Jax.

"He never sees this." he begs.

Jax nods and waits.

Weston takes a seat on a toilet in a empty stall, takes a deep breath and looks up at Jax.

Jax shoots him five times before closing the stall door.

They leave the same way they got in.

* * *

Jax and the guys return to the clubhouse.

"It's done." he tells Clay and the others.

"I am so proud of you." Happy says with a weird grin on his face.

"Me, too." Clay says before hugging him.

"Where we at?" he asks.

"Puerto rican's watching Zobelle." Bobby says as shots are being poured.

"Where's ma? And Bella?" he asks looking around the room.

Piper, Ellie and Kenny run into the room and hug their dad. Embry goes over and stands next to them.

"They're with Tara getting supplies. Bella's boys and Sack are with them." Piney says.

"You're a good son." Clay says as he takes his shot.

"Sons!" a random guy calls out holding up a beer.

"Sons!" they all call out.

"Opie, your woman is a blood thirsty little thing." one of the Nomads, Kozik says joining them. "She must be a wildcat in the bedroom." Kozik mutters only loud enough for Opie to hear.

"You talking about the damage she did to Zobelle's daughter?" Bobby says when he notices that Opie narrows his eyes at Kozik.

Kozik nods, "She's..."

"Unless you feel like swallowing your tongue. Shut up." Tig snarls as Embry starts growling at Kozik, holding himself back from attacking the guy for making remarks of his sister to her mate.

Kozik nods and walks away.

"Let's get you a drink." Embry says as they kids run off and he pulls Opie over to the bar for another shot.

* * *

Holding Abel, she follows Tara and the boys out of the store and watches as they put the rest of the stuff in the trunk.

"I'm driving." Gemma says taking the keys from Tara as she joins them.

"Okay." Tara says handing over the keys.

She gets Abel in his car-seat while Tara and Gemma get in the car. The boys are behind them on their bikes.

Gemma puts the keys in and starts the car but doesn't move.

"That blonde?" Tara says making her look up to see that Polly Zobelle is in a van in front of them. The little witch had cleaned herself up but the bruises she left are still clear as day.

"Gemma?" she says worried.

"Who is that?" Tara asks.

"Zobelle's daughter." Gemma says.

"The one you dealt with." Tara asks turning to look at her.

"She's the one that told me her baby was choking before hitting me over the head." Gemma says as she pulls out to follow Polly.

"Gemma, I dealt with her." she says. "Those marks are from me."

"Gemma, what are you doing? You're past this." Tara says trying to help in her own way.

"My son, my husband. Their brothers. Bella. Her brothers. They are out there risking everything for me. This is how I help. I need to finish what was started." Gemma says as they pull to a stop.

"Aunt Gem..." she says.

"Get my babies home safe." Gemma tells Tara before softly smiling at her and Abel. "Love all of you."

"Gemma, please." Tara says grabbing her arm when she goes to open the door.

"I'm glad you came back to my boy." Gemma says as she gets out of the car and follows Polly to the house she went into.

She quickly gets out of the car, Tara not that far behind.

"What going on?" Quil asks when she gets to the three of them.

"Sack, you and Quil need to stay, she's gonna need to get out of here fast." she says.

"I'll go to the other end of the street in case she comes out that way." Quil says, at her nod he rides down the road.

"This is not a good thing, is it?" Sack asks looking at her and Tara.

"No. Stay, meet us at Jax's house." Tara says as they head back to the car. Paul following them.

* * *

Gemma enter the house with her gun drawn.

Polly spins around and points her gun at her.

"Put the gun down." she says as she gets an eyeful of the girl. Polly had tried and failed to cover the bruises that Bella had left on her. She feels extremely proud to call Bella her niece at that moment.

"You killed him." Polly says confusing her.

Polly turns towards her, gun raised. She fires first and Polly falls, dead.

"Gemma!" Quil says getting to the door. "Let's go."

"Quil...?" she says confused but follows the boy to his bike.

Stahl comes out of her hiding spot and watches as Gemma leaves. An idea comes to her.

She picks up the radio.

**_This is Stahl, Cameron never showed but the girlfriend, Polly Zobelle did. Told Edmund to get rid of her but seems Polly had other plans, I think someone from SAMCRO was right behind her, whoever it was shot Polly and the girl in turn shot Edmund. He or she took off before I could stop them. I heard a bike ride off before I could get to the door._ **

She smirks knowing that Cameron is listening and will blame the club for the death of his son.

Gemma gets on the bike behind Quil and he takes off towards the lot instead of the house.

Sack watches as Quil drives off and gets on his bike just as ATF cars speed up to the house they just got away from.

He leaves and heads towards the house to give Tara and Bella an update.

* * *

Juice watches as Alcarez hustles Zobell out of the smoke shop.

With a smirk, he calls the others.

* * *

As they mount up, Unser let's Clay know that what he needed is ready and waiting.

All of them roll out.

* * *

Jax, Clay, and the others catch up to the Mayan caravan.

An oversized panel-van follows behind.

Clay gives a siganl and the van pulls ahead until it is right in front of the lead cycle.

The back opens and Piney, Happy and some Nomads open fire on the Mayans.

Motorcycles hit the pavement, and one of the Mercedes' tires is shot out; the caravan grinds to a halt.

From the rear, Jax and the others open fire.

Alvarez gets out of the car and not wanting to wait around Zobelle takes the wheel, speeding away.

"Take off or we finish this now." Clay snarls at Alvarez.

Alvarez and the rest of the Mayans head off in the other direction.

"Let's go." Clay tells the others and they head off after Zobelle.

They find his car broken down in front of a convenience store.

Unfortantly, a school bus is there letting kids off to go into the store.

Embry goes over to the door and looks in, and comes back to the others.

"He's in there. Surrounded by kids." he tells them.

"Probably trying to call for help." Jax snarks.

"Who gives a shit. The instant those kids are clear. We kill him." Clay says, glaring at the building.

* * *

"Paul, can you grab some more diapers and things for him out of his room." she asks as Tara places Abel on the counter in his car-seat.

"Clothes, diapers..any toys?" he asks as he starts to go down the hall.

Tara nods as she pulls some more bottles down.

She places the teething ring into the freezer to cool it while they are there when the sound of the door opening causes both of them to turn.

"Jax?" Tara calls out.

"Nope, just me." Sack says coming in.

"Where's Gemma and Quil?" she asks heading over to the phone to call Gemma, to find out what happened.

"Quil headed to the lot with her on his bike but Feds raided the house moments after they left." Sack tells them.

"Shit." she says and starts to dial.

"Put it down." someone with a deep Irish accent says coming into the house, his gun pointed at her.

She puts the phone down and moves over to Tara, glancing over at Abel who is still fast asleep, Sack tries to move towards him when the guy presses the gun against her head. She bites back the snarl that is forming in her throat.

"Drop it." the man says. Sack pulls his gun out and places it on the counter, glaring at the guy the entire time.

She glares at the man but keeps her eyes on him since it's clear he doesn't know that someone else is in the house.

"What do you want?" Tara says hoarsely, her eyes on Abel the entire time, her fingers digging into Bella's arm in equal amount of fear and hope that Paul is able to do something.

"SAMCRO is responsible for my Eddy dying." the man says, it's clear that he has been crying and isn't thinking right. "So I thought to even the score, I'd kill some of their family."

Abel chooses that moment to wake up and start crying. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Paul inching towards the counter that Abel is on, more than likely to get him out of the way.

The man looks over at him, keeping the gun on her and Tara he moves towards Abel.

"You know a son for a son... sounds good..." the man says pulling a knife our of the butchers block and brings it close to Abel's car-seat.

"You just fucked up." she snarls causing him to look at her, the knife in his hand.

"How little girl?" he snarks at her pure hate in his eyes.

"Didn't anyone every tell you, never threaten a wolf pup..Kill him." she snarls out the rest.

Tara and Sack look at her in slight confusion.

Paul from his hiding spot, grabs a hold of the man, both of them crashing to the floor. Sack quickly grabs Abel's car-seat when it starts to get close to the edge due to Paul going over the counter. The man stabs at Paul but doesn't leave a mark on him. Paul pins him to the floor and with one quick twist, breaks his neck killing him instantly.

"Is he okay?" Tara say rushing over to Sack and Able as Paul stands up.

"He's fine. How did you know he would get him before...?" Sack asks her.

"No fucks with a pack pup." Paul snarls out before stalking out of the room. Tara and Sack shake theirs heads when they think they hear a wolf howl.

Tara takes Abel out of the car-seat and slides down to sit on the floor, holding her son and glaring at the dead man.

"Sack, Paul is going to bee help getting rid of it." she says stepping over the body to sit down next to Tara. Tara leans into her as Abel reaches for her as well.

Sack nods and heads after Paul.

"Never piss off a mommy." Tara whispers to her.

"I'll call Gemma. She needs to know about this. Maybe Unser can figure out why that.." she snarls at the body on the floor "thought SAMCRO was responsible for his Eddy's death." she says standing and going to the phone as Sack and Paul come in with a tarp.

* * *

"Kids are clearing out." Embry says running up to them.

"Convince the locals to get their snacks someplace else." Clay tells Juice. "Tell the clerk to take a break." he tells Tig.

"Gladly." both of them say and run off to do their jobs.

They watch as the store clears.

"Let's go." Clay says and all of them head in.

Zobelle looks around the store, unable to hide.

"This is going to be fun." Clay says darkly as they get into the store, Jax makes sure to lock the door behind him. Juice and Tig come in from the back. All of them surround Zobelle.

Zobelle shakes in fear as they close in on him.

* * *

She, Tara, Sack and Paul walk into the clubhouse. Tara is still clinging to Abel.

Gemma rushes forward and wraps her arms around Tara and Abel.

"He okay?" Gemma asks rubbing Tara's back and leading her to a nearby couch.

"Never touched him." she says watching as Gemma takes Abel out of Tara's arms.

"And Cameron?" Piney asks looking at the boys.

"Will never be found." Paul says coldly. Quil nods at him before wrapping his arms around her. He can feel that she is shaking.

"Where are my kids?" she asks him quietly.

"Laying down watching a movie on the portable in your room." he tells her.

She moves around him and heads to be with them. She gets to the room and crawls into bed with the kids. Ellie is fast asleep while Kenny and Piper are fighting sleep.

"Hey guys." she says kissing their heads as they cuddle with her.

* * *

He and Jax enter the clubhouse with everyone else. Tara and Gemma are cuddled up together with Abel on one of the couches.

"What's wrong?" Jax asks sitting down next to Tara, taking Abel out of his mom's arms.

"Cameron..he thought that SAMCRO killed Edmond and he threatened Abel. A son for a son." Gemma says shakily, lighting up a cigarette.

"What?" Clay says sitting down on the arm of the couch and placing a hand on Gemma.

"Stahl is claiming that she think someone from SAMCRO killed Polly Zobelle. Who in turn killed Edmond. She 'thinks' it was someone from SAMCRO since she heard a bike but she's not sure." Unser says pissed off.

"Hale is going to want to talk to all of us." Gemma tells them. "To verify where we were when this happened."

Clay nods, the wheels in his head turning.

"Where's Cameron?" he asks.

Embry looks at Paul and Quil. Paul nods.

"Dealt with." Sacks says looking at Paul.

"Zobelle?" Tara and Gemma ask.

"Gone." Jax says exchanging a smile with Clay.

He looks at his dad in question when he notices that Bella is nowhere to be seen, his dad motions his head down the hall.

He moves around the others and heads to the bedroom. He finds Bella and all three kids laying on the bed.

Kenny and Ellie are both passed out. Bella smiles softly at him as he picks them up and moves them to their sleeping bags on the floor. He joins her and the still awake Piper on the bed. He doesn't say a word when the two of them curl into him. Piper lays his head down in her lap and restarts the movie that they paused when he came in.

"Hi." he whispers in her ear.

She leans up and brushes her lips against his in a soft kiss.

"It's over." he tells her.

She breathes a sigh of relief and closes her eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

**A week Later**

Embry stands in the doorway watching her help Gemma making the potluck.

Each of them had been questioned by Hale over the past week and it was clear to him that Stahl was talking out of her ass.

The biggest nail in her coffin was the fact that the bullet that killed Edmund was from her gun. Interesting thing was the bullet that killed Polly seemed to match the gun that Edmund had hidden away. It didn't help that she was the only person that 'heard' the so-called bike either.

He swallows, "Bella? Can we talk outside?" he asks looking at her with slight fear running through his body. He hated being the messenger, they usually end up dead.

"Sure." she says with a smile, she looks in the living room on the way out. Tara is feeding Abel while the kids are watching the new Disney movie that just came out on DVD.

"What's up?" she asks turning towards him when they get outside.

"Jake called." he was unsure how to tell her the rest.

"What's going on?" she asks.

"Seems they are back and not going anywhere." he says quickly, waiting for the fallout.

"Who…? Seriously? After four years, they show back up. What the hell do they want?" she snarls.

"To see you." at her glare he quickly finishes, "Seems the pixie seeing bitch has seen things that got her worried so she told the others and all of them, plus some extra ones showed up in Forks at your dad's old place. Finding it empty, they went to the treaty line to see if we knew where you and your dad are. I guess Fuckward didn't like what he saw in their minds when Jake, Sam and Paul got there so they are refusing to leave until they talk to you. In person."

She starts pacing back and forth, "Why are you telling me and not Jake?"

He laughs softly, "Jake figured you wouldn't kill me and I don't have a girlfriend, so no sex sabbatical."

She growls at him and he closes his mouth. She takes a deep breath, "Okay, we need to figure out how to tell the club."

"Huh?" he looks at her like she has lost all sense.

"We need to tell all of them. I'm not going to run off to La Push without telling them what's going on." she says continuing to pace in front of him.

"Bella, you know it doesn't work that way. Only an imprint…"

"We're not on the rez. There's talk." she says looking at him, "About making you a prospect."

"Seriously?" he says grinning. He's felt more at home here with the club than he has ever felt with the pack.

She nods, "I was going to talk to you about letting them in on it before they talked to you."

"Bella…" he swallows and nods, "Let's tell them. When?"

"Tell who what?" Jax asks from the doorway.

Biting her lip, she glances at him out the corner of her eye. "Is everyone here?" she asks.

"Yeah, ma told me to collect the two of you." Jax says looking at each of them.

He nods and brushes past Jax to head inside.

"After supper, I'll explain everything." she says following after Embry.

* * *

Embry helps her and Gemma clean off the table once the meal is over.

Some people had left so that all that was there was the three of them, Clay, Jax, Tara, Abel, Tig, Bobby, Luann, Piney, Juice, Half-Sac, Chibs, Opie, Kenny, Piper and Ellie. Luckily all four of the kids were passed out in the living room.

He looks at her and she nods.

"Bella and I need to talk to you guys." he says looking at everyone.

"Talk." Clay says.

"Trust me, we should do this outside." Bella says heading out the door. He follows after her.

All of them look at each other and follow the two of them out.

She and Embry stand in front of them, almost having a silent conversation.

"Anytime now?" Tig says annoyed.

"Fine," Bella huffs, "What would all of you say if I told you that shifters and vampires were real?" she says jumping right into it.

"I want to know what you are smoking and can you share?" Juice jokes.

All the others start laughing as well until they notice that Bella and Embry aren't laughing, just looking at each other with unsure looks on their faces.

"Bella, baby..why aren't you laughing?" Opie asks.

"Remember all those legends that Bry has told the kids?" he nods, "They're not legends." she says rubbing her wrist.

"You have got to be joking." Tara and Gemma exclaim.

She looks at Embry and nods while moving towards us. Embry pulls off his shirt and tosses it behind him.

"Dude! Keep your clothes on!" Half- Sac and other guys exclaim while Luann and Gemma admire the view.

They watch as Embry starts shaking, Tara moves to go help him but Bella grabs her and moves her away just as Embry turns into a wolf.

"HOLY FUCK! SHIT!" is exclaimed from everyone.

Embry lays down on his stomach, looking at everyone with puppy dog eyes.

"He's so pretty." Luann breaths.

Bella moves away from everyone and sits down next to the horse sized wolf. She even starts petting him.

"Is he safe?" Tara asks.

She nods and Tara moves over to join her, "He's so soft." Tara says when she shakily pets him before moving back towards Jax.

"That's the wolf...holy fuck…" Opie says starting at her.

Embry starts whimpering his eyes moving between the two of them.

"Opie?" Clay asks.

"That's the wolf that cut me off so I wasn't arrested with all of you." he says tearing his eyes off Bella and Embry to look at the others.

"You know, he might be right. I've seen that wolf before." Jax says.

"He's been looking out for all of you since he got here." she tells them.

"Paul? Quil? Are they….?" Chibs makes a motion to Embry.

"Why do you think I call my friends from La Push, pack?" she says with a smile.

"What's going on? There's a reason that you are letting us know this, right?" Gemma says.

"Embry and I need to go to La Push, my ex has showed back up and is refusing to leave until he and his family can talk to me. The longer they are there, the possibility of more teenagers shifting is increased." she tells them.

"What do you mean?" Tara asks the doctor in her curious.

"The only reason the guys shift is due to cold ones or vampires being in the area for long amounts of time. Sam and Leah were the only ones over eighteen when they phased. Everyone else was sixteen...except Seth, he was fourteen." Embry whimpered softly and head butted her side. She started scratching the top of his head, trying to calm him. She didn't want anyone else to phase.

"What does that have to do with your ex… you have got to be kidding me?" Opie says staring at her.

"What did I miss?" Tig asks looking at the fact that Opie is staring hard at Bells.

Bella nods and lowers her head to hide her face in Embry's fur.

"A vampire. Your ex is a vampire." Opie all but screams.

"Yes," she says taking a deep breath and standing, "Whatever you have to say, I have already said it."

"Was he good in bed at least?" Luann asks causing everyone to glare at her.

"Trust me, she was a virgin." Opie all but growls out as he stalks over to her and pulls her into his arms. Embry yips and his tail starts wagging like an excited puppy.

She laughs softly, "Luann, my ex was a hundred year old virgin, I was lucky to get a kiss on the mouth."

All but Opie quickly cover their mouths to get from laughing. He buries his face into the side of her neck, kissing her softly.

"So your ex and his family, who never bothered to say goodbye, are refusing to leave until they speak to you in person." Gemma says breaking it down.

She nods as she turns in Opie's arms to look at everyone.

"Alright. So you and Embry…" Opie opens his mouth, "Along with Opie and Jax will go deal with your ex and then the four of you will come home." Gemma says.

"Why only Jax and Opie? I want to go see if Bella's ex is bulletproof." Clay says with a smirk.

Bobby and Piney nod as well while Tig just smirks.

"That's why none of you are going. Opie is not going to let her go there without him and Jax is there to represent the family." Gemma says.

"I'm going too." Chibs says in a tone that leaves nothing to discussion.

"What about the kids?" she asks looking at Opie over her shoulder.

"I'll watch them." Piney says.

"Thanks, Dad." Opie says.

"Between Gemma and Neeta, all the kids will be watched over." Tara says leaning against Jax.

"When do we leave?" Jax asks.

She looks back at Embry, "You running or riding?"

Embry gives a wolfish grin, gets to his feet and takes off.

She laughs, "Well, he's running. We should go tonight."

"I'll follow you home." Piney says.

"We'll get them home and tell them that we'll be gone a couple days but grandpa is staying with them." Opie says rubbing a hand up and down her arms as the two of them head inside.

"I'll meet you at your place in about an hour?" Jax asks as Tara collects Abel.

She nods.

"Let's get our kids home." Opie says as he and Piney start picking up the kids.

* * *

**A Few Days Later**

Embry stands in front of them shirtless in a pair of shorts as they park their bikes.

"Back in uniform." she laughs getting off the bike. Opie, Jax and Chibs get off the bikes and stand in the driveway of Jake's house.

"Took you long enough!" Jared calls out as he and the others stumble out of the house.

An older man in a wheelchair stays on the porch. Paul and a tattooed woman stand with him. He thinks that must be Billy, Jake's father and her dad's best friend. Quil comes out holding a little kid.

"Out of my way!" Angela yells laughing running down the stairs and wraps her arms around her. "I have missed you."

"Me too, momma. Me, too." she says softly wrapping her arms around her. Kim wraps her arms around Jared, waiting for her turn. "Come here, baby sis." she says and Kim bounces over to join them join the hug. A woman with scars on her face stays on the porch next to the guy in the wheelchair, he notices her roll her eyes.

"So, you're Bells' mate?" a couple guys say circling him.

Embry puts an arm up when Jax and Chibs move to help.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that." he says staring one of the guys right in the eyes. The two of them stand there until the guy grins crazily.

"Ohhh, Bells. I approve." the guys says turning to her.

She slowly lets go of Angela and Kim to face him, "Jake...I love you but I don't care if you approve or not." she says with a grin as Jake picks her up in a hug.

The other guy all but slams his hand on his shoulder, "Welcome to the pack." he says before going over to Bella and getting his hug.

"Where are Leah and Seth?" she asks looking around.

"Waiting at the treaty line. Seems pixie bitch knew you were coming today and the leeches are getting restless." Jake tells her.

"Bella?" the man in the wheelchair says looking at her sternly.

"Sorry Billy." she says going up the stair to give the old man a quick kiss before coming back to stand with him. "Guys, this is Jake, Angela, Jared, Kim, Sam, Emily, Billy, Rachel and the little one is Claire." she says pointing to each of them.

"Wish we were meeting under better circumstances." Billy says.

"This is Opie, Jax and Chibs." she tells them.

"Heard a lot about you." Angela says with grin.

Opie smirks as she leans into him blushing.

"Are all of us going?" Chibs asks looking around at the pack.

"Just the Bella, I guess you three and the pack." Angela says looking at Jake for confirmation.

"There'll be food when you get back." Emily said, giving Sam a quick kiss before heading back inside.

Angela, Kim and Rachel follow her inside after giving their mates quick kisses as well.

"You sure?" she asks looking at him.

"There is no way on this earth I am letting you deal with your ex or his family without me." he tells her.

"Or me." Jax says.

Chibs just smirks at her.

"You ready?" Jake asks as the others start heading into the forest.

"As I'll ever be." she says as they follow.

* * *

He's not sure how far they walked until they reach a small clearing.

She stops in front of him and he wraps his arms around her to take in what she sees.

Her pack is standing in front who he guesses is her ex and his family. He can tell why she and Embry were worried about others phasing.

The family of seven had grown to thirteen.

"Bella…" the smallest female squealed. _That must be the pixie seer bitch._

The one with hair the color of a penny started growling.

She took a deep breath and walked the rest of the way until she was standing in front of them. He exchanged a look with Jax and Chibs. Even knowing that it would do no good, each upholstered their gun. They stood next to Embry and the rest of the pack. At her back but within reach.

"Your friends do know that bullets don't harm us." the copper top snarked out.

"Maybe but makes them feel better." she snarks right back.

"How could you tell our secret?" the blonde Barbie demanded stepping forward.

"Rosalie, I told my family about the pack. It's not my fault that your family is a part of their secret." she says sickly sweet.

Jax and Chibs stifle their laughing along with most of the pack. He just smirks at the look on the barbie's face.

The giant next to her starts laughing, "Look Rosie..Bella got her backbone." he laughs.

"Emmett, I got a backbone and a mouth. Which would you like me to use on you?" she says crossing her arms in front of her.

_It's a very talented mouth when she's in a good mood, pray you are never on the end of it when she is pissed._

The blonde next to the pixie starts laughing uncontrollably while the copper top frowns.

"JASPER!" the pixie yells.

"Sorry, I've forgotten how strongly she feels." he says with a heavy drawl and a smirk.

"It's alright, Major." she says with a smirk with he looks surprised. "Why the hell are you here?"

"I've noticed you in my visions doing things that seem strange so we came to check on you." the pixie says.

"What have you seen Alice?" she says coldly.

"You yelling at a dark haired woman in a nursery. Talking to him and two small children at a funeral." Alice says pointing at him. "Sitting on some guys lap, laughing and drinking. Dancing with him," points at Chibs, "at some party full of bikers. You and the blonde talking to some older blonde woman in a empty factory or something. Beating some girl until they pull you off." pointing at him and Chibs."Him kissing you." Alice motions to him. "A van exploding and someone being thrown from the blast. Him pinning you to the wall, your legs wrapped around him while you kiss. You, the dark haired woman you yelled at and another woman shooting porn posters. You two watching a movie with two small kids which led to the two of you in bed, who knew you were so bendy."

She glares at her, all of them do and the pixie bitch keeps talking.

"All of you and others in a dining room, arguing. You making breakfast for three kids. You revealing a tattoo on your side. You talking with others at a table, all of you are extremely emotional. You beating down some blonde girl...after that…."

"Seeing you beating up someone for no reason was the last straw, I knew we had to see you." coppertop says.

"Not that it's any of your business, but that blonde little bitch set up my aunt to be gang raped. So there was a reason." she snarls.

He hears Jax and the pack start growling. He notices that Barbie looks pissed.

"So to make sure I have this right, you saw me living my life making my own decisions, could see that I was in a relationship where I was happy and since you didn't like some of the things that were going on in my life you thought you had the right to show up and disrupt it." she snarls.

"Bella…., I never stopped loving you…" penny boy starts.

"Seriously, Bella. I would have figured the giant before that one." Chibs says with a laugh.

"What?" Barbie exclaims she still is looking pissed even more so than before.

"This one right here," Chibs claps a hand on his shoulder, "Is her man. They live together and are raising kids together. Practicing every chance they can get to having more. Look at that one compared to the giant." Chibs says grinning.

Rosalie looks at the man at next to her and the one that had tried to speak to Bella. They pack and the rest of the vampires do the same.

"You know he's got a point. Most of the guys she dated were tall and built the same way." Embry says loud enough for all to hear.

"BRY!" she exclaims as he tries not the laugh.

"Come on, Bella. It's clear you have a type." Paul says smugly.

"Cool..suck it." the giant say with a smug grin to her ex.

"Are you forgetting that my type was dating the ice queen...ANYWAY, you have seen me. I'm fine. Happy, now will you please leave." she says staring at them.

One of the others steps forward, "Not until you tell us what happened to Laurent."

"Who was Laurent?" Jake asks looking at her.

"Dread boy that showed up with Victoria." she says sighing. "He showed up with Victoria about a year or so after you left, without a fucking goodbye, to punish me. Mate for a mate. Both were destroyed."

"Laurent had gold eyes like us, you shouldn't have touched him." the one that stepped forward says.

"No, he had red eyes and tried to take a bite out of her." Jake tells them.

"You know that he had problems with the diet, Irina. Deal with it." Rosalie says.

Irina and the other ones that hadn't spoken look upset but leave.

"They'll return to Alaska, they understand the treaty. They won't return.' he ex tells them.

"Are you happy?" Alice asks.

"Yeah, very. I have two families that mean the world to me. Unless you see me dying please stay away." she tells her.

Alice nods and allows Jasper to pull her after the others.

"Bella..I…" the ex starts.

"Edward, I really don't care." she says as he wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her close to him.

Edward nods and runs off.

Rosalie and the giant are all that are left.

"I'm sad. Wish I could have been here to see you turn into a badass." the giant says, pouting.

Rosalie rolls her eyes and turns to leave, "I'll do everything I can to keep them away. Have a good life Bella."

"Hey! How long you gonna hold over his head that you're her type?" Paul calls out as the giant turns to follow.

"Fifty years, give or take." he says with a laugh before they too are gone.

"Cool, it's over and there's no blood shed. Good day." Chibs says holstering his gun.

"Days not over. You still got to meet Charlie, Bella's dad." Jake says with a grin.

He knows without turning that Chibs and Jax are just as pale as him.


	16. Chapter 16

It seemed like it took less time to get back to the house from the treaty line than it did to get out there.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asks stopping beside him.

"Worth more than a penny." he says with a smirk.

"Opie.." she says smiling. Jax and Chibs pass them heading to the house where the pack and others were waiting.

"I'm nervous...about meeting your dad.. it scares me more than dealing with your ex did." he tells her honestly.

She laughs softly, "Alright. What is it about my dad that scares everyone? The pack are terrified of him, you're nervous about meeting him…."

"Okay.. if the pack is terrified, I'm suddenly even more nervous." he tries to joke.

She bites her lip and moves closer to him until she is a breath away, "You can stare down Mayans, Nords and guys like Zobelle but the thought of meeting my dad frightens you." she says with a smile before brushing her mouth against his.

"I am not a stupid man, if a group of guys that shift into wolves are terrified of your father, so am I." he says grinning against her mouth.

"Well, I love you and he is going to like you. Might threaten you a little but nothing you're not use too. He is the Chief of Police." she says with a smirk.

"BELLA!" a young voice screams out. He turned to see a little girl running towards them.

"Come here, Claire bear." she says softly squatting down when the girl reaches them to pick her up.

"Who's he?" the little girl, Claire, asks her softly.

"He's my boyfriend." she says giggling as they start walking to everyone else.

"But boys are stinky…" Claire loudly whispers. He follows trying not to laugh.

When they reach everyone, her friends Angela and Kim are putting heaping plates of food on a picnic table.

Some of the pack reach to grab some.

"Get your hands off!" Bella yells with authority that would make Gemma proud. Jax smirks probably thinking the same thing. Even he can hear their whines.

"We're hungry…." Jared pouts not taking his eyes off the food.

"You know the rules. Imprints and humans before bottomless pits." she says with a grin putting Claire down.

"Awww… did someone get their hand smacked." Leah says with a laugh coming out of the house with a pitcher of something to drink.

"Let me help you with that, gorgeous." Chibs says moving to take the stack of empty cups out of her hand.

"Thanks…" Leah looks up and catches his eyes. Each seem to freeze.

Everything stops as all but him and Jax look up and stare at the two of them. He looks down and notices that Bella is starting to tear up. "What's going on?" he asks.

"Something we didn't think would ever happen." she says as she moves away from him and goes over to Leah. "Lee-lee?"

Leah seems to snap out of it and takes a step back. "Did I?" she asks a little nervous.

He looks at Jax who looks as confused as him.

"What's going on?" a man in uniform comes out of the house.

Bella smiles and looks up at him, "Leah just imprinted. Looks like I'm going to have two wolves with me now."

The cop looks at Chibs and his eyes narrow. "HIM? He has to be my age!"

"DAD!" Bella and Leah yell looking at him.

"That's the guy that the entire pack is afraid of?" Jax says softly as he stands next to him. He shrugs.

"Wait." Embry says coming to stand on the other side of him.

Charlie comes forward until he is nose to nose with Chibs. "What makes you think that you are worthy of one of my girls?" he snarls out.

Chibs moves back, confused. He looks over at us. We shrug just as confused as him.

" ….Beautiful? Want to explain, please?" Chibs asks looking at Bella.

She steps away from Leah and places her hand on her dad's arm, "We haven't had a chance to tell him what's going on."

The look of pure rage on his face doesn't falter at all.

"I repeat what makes you or him think that either one of you are worthy of one of my girls?" he repeats only this time he looks at him as well as Chibs.

"Dad…" she says softly laughing as she places herself between the two of them. "Let me explain what just happened before you try to shoot him, he doesn't heal like the pack."

"He's shot you?" Jax whispers to Embry.

"Shot Quil in the ass when he caught him trying to escape out of Bella's room after sneaking her in since she was drunk as a skunk." he says with a smirk.

He smirks slightly until he looks up and notices Charlie's glare is now directed at him. Charlie doesn't say a word just motions him to come to him when he turns and heads back into the house.

Bella and Leah have pulled Chibs to sit at the table with Jake and his dad.

With a look at Jax, he takes a deep breath and follows after Charlie.

"Sit down." Charlie said sternly, motioning to the empty chair across from him.

Swallowing, he is slowly getting why the pack fears him.

"It's good…" he starts.

He laughs, "While I consider Leah and Seth my children. Bella is my baby girl. You're a father, I'm sure you understand where I am coming from. Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you and make it look like an accident."

He sits there his mouth dropped open in shock. He swallows hard when Charlie's eyes seem to narrow. "I love Bella. Her and our kids are the only thing keep me sane some days. She is the reason that I am sitting here across from you and not dead in some ditch."

"Good answer. I like you you better than Edwin. Break her heart or if she ends up in jail, I will make what you just went through with Zobelle seem like a cake walk. Now tell me about the other guy." he says grinning at him.

* * *

"So your sister imprinted on me?" Chibs asks a little confused as Jax sits down with them.

"It's how the wolf finds a mate…" Billy starts.

"Billy, I love you but you know what it really is. Imprinting shows the wolf the person that they can have strong pups with. The person that will help calm the wolf. The imprint decides if the relationship is romantic or platonic. Most have chosen the mate route as you can see." Bella tells him motion to all of the pack around them.

"How you feel about this?" Chibs asks looking at the she-wolf.

"Honestly, I never thought that I would imprint..so I don't know." Leah said honestly.

"Why don't the two of you talk a walk down to First Beach? Get to know each other." Bella says to her sister.

Leah looks at him and at his nod the two of them head away from everyone else.

"I'm happy and worried for her." she says softly as others start to sit down.

"Bells, I would be more worried about your man. He's still in there with Charlie." Jake says motioning to the house.

"Be right back." she says quickly and heads in to find her dad and Opie talking calmly. Each smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer.

"Hey.." Opie says with a smile when he notices her. "Just telling your dad about Ellie, Kenny and Piper trying to make us breakfast in bed."

She smiles softly remembering. "We'll have to bring them with us next time." she says joining them at the table.

Charlie watches the way Opie's face lite up when he realized that Bella was in the room. The young man in front of him was completely and utterly in love with his daughter. At that moment he didn't care about his past or anything else. He knew without a doubt that Opie would knock on death's door and knock him out before he would allow anything to take Bella from him. It was the way he looked at her. He looked at her the same way each imprinted wolf looked at their mate, the way Billy use to look at Sarah and the way he looked at Sue.

He took a long sip of his beer, listening to the two of them talk about their kids.

"Does that sound like a good idea?" Bella asks bringing him out of his head.

"Sorry…" he says.

"You, Sue and Seth coming out to visit with Leah when she comes out." she says with a grin.

He watches as she leans in Opie and hides his smirk.

"I'll check with Sue." he says.

* * *

They are finally sitting down eating when Leah and Chibs rejoin them, holding hands.

She pulls Leah aside as her dad glares at Chibs. Opie just shakes his head and is talking to him quietly. Probably telling him about his own experience with him.

"So…" she says waiting as Angela and Kim join them.

"We're going to be friends and date but we're taking it slow. Making sure that I can handle the club and everything that it entails." Leah tells her taking a deep breath.

"Did you show him your wolf?" Kim asks nervously.

"Yeah.." she brushes a tear away. "He told me I was gorgeous. No matter what form I was in."

She pulls her sister into a hug, both of them smiling even though they were crying.

"I'm so happy for you. I think you'll have fun being an old lady. Has he told you about…?"

"His wife and daughter? Yeah, he told me about them. How do you do it?" she asks looking at her.

"Do what?" she ask confused slowly moving to look her in the face.

"Let him go out the door everyday knowing that there is a chance he might not come home because he's in the hospital, arrested or…."

"The same way your mom deals with you, Seth and Charlie walking out every morning to go to work or do patrols. You take a deep breath, say a small prayer and do what you need to do." she says softly as Kim and Angela nod in agreement.

Leah laughs softly, shaking her head. "I'm hungry. Let's eat." she says heading over to join everyone else.

Opie comes over to her when she doesn't join everyone else. "You okay baby?" he asks.

"Yeah, just wish the others were here and it would feel…." she says looking at everyone as he wraps his arms around her.

"I know what you mean. Soon. We'll have our entire family together soon." he says lifting her face to his and kisses her.

Sue leans into Charlie and looks over where he is staring. Leah is sitting with Chibs, talking softly with a smile on her face that none of them had seen in a long time. Bella is standing a little away from everyone in the arms of Opie. They are whispering to each other and kissing every so often.

"So, when do I get to meet my grand-babies?" she asks Charlie.

Charlie just laughs and kisses the top of her head as Leah and the rest of the wolves try not to laugh.


	17. Chapter 17

**Epilogue**

**Three and a Half Years later**

I sat with my husband on First beach watching all the kids play. It was the last day of our vacation before we have to head back to Charming in the morning. Took a little arm twisting but all us girls convinced the guys to have a bonfire.

I slowly looked around at all my family.

Clay and Gemma were sitting with Sue and Dad talking about something. Over the last few years the four of them had gotten close. Sue and dad made time to visit all of us in Charming and the entire club would come to La Push every chance they could all get away for long visits.

Jax and Tara were cuddling watching Abel run after the others while Thomas, Jax and Tara's one year old, played in the sand in front of them. Tara had been able to get right back to work when a small scandal came out about Margaret which meant all her so-called claims were thrown out.

Juice and Happy were sitting with Paul and Rachel more than likely talking about new tattoo ideas. Juice had become Rachel's test dummy whenever she or Paul had a new design, I'm surprised that Juice has any blank skin left. Paul was currently working on designing my newest tattoo, he still had a little over a month to finish.

Half-Sac was helping Bobby at the grill with Billy and Piney. Old Quil was sitting next to them trying to give advice that none of them were taking.

I wish that Luann had come with us, but with a deadline on a new movie looming over her head, she needed to finish certain scenes. _Maybe next time..._

Leah and Chibs were talking with Sam and Emily. Leah had finally been able to move on from the hurt that Emily and Sam had caused her, they still weren't as close as they use to be but she was able to stand being around them longer than usual. I noticed that every so often Chibs kept rubbing his hand on her stomach. I swallowed, hopeful that they had finally gotten pregnant after a year of trying and Leah stopping her phasing. Emily also kept watching the kids, her and Sam's twin boys were trying to chase after the bigger kids.

Jake was sitting next to us with Angela in his lap, rubbing her slightly rounded belly. She had just hit the second trimester and was hoping for a girl this time. Their son and Abel had gotten to be the best of friends. Jake tried to joke that it was history repeating itself, since our dads are best friends and we're best friends that our kids would be best friends. Angela had to remind him that Abel was Jax's son not mine. Jake had just shrugged and said Abel was still my pup so it worked.

Quil, Embry and Seth were playing with the kids. Embry had moved to Charming and was now fully patched in the club, currently Seth was the newest prospect. Clay liked to joke that I was making it so that both my family would always stay connected. Dad was okay with it as long as nothing happened when he was there.

Dad had retired earlier this year and I knew that he and Sue were debating moving to be closer to all of their kids.

Tig was being his usual self, unable to relax so he was walking the area, watching over everyone. I noticed that more than once he rested his hand on his knife.

"You okay?" Opie asks wrapping his arms around me as I leaned back.

"Just happy." I say before he drops a kiss on my mouth.

"MOMMY!" a small voice causes me to move away from him and I look over to see that my son, CJ short for Charles Jackson, has fallen to the ground, tears running down his face as he holds his knee.

"He got your coordination, that's for sure." Opie says with a grin getting up since it's harder for me to get to my feet than him.

"Need help?" Embry says towering over me.

"You try being nine months pregnant sitting on the ground and let's see how fast you move." I growl as Embry helps me to my feet and I waddle over to Opie and CJ as well as our other three.

"He okay, mom?" Ellie asks.

"Yeah.." I say seeing that there isn't any scratches or bruises. "Mostly his pride is hurt."

He looks at me with puppy dog eyes, pouting slightly.

"You're good. Those hidden rocks get me all the time too.' I says with a smile when he wraps his arms around my neck and hides his face.

"FOODS READY!" Bobby yells.

Slowly everyone heads over to the table, grabs a plate and sits down around the bonfire. Unknown to everyone else, Billy felt it was time for a new story to be told.

"Story time." Billy says once everyone finds a seat.

"I thought we knew all the stories?" Tara asks as Thomas leans against her.

"I'm not the one telling the story this time." he says before meeting my eyes and nods.

_**"You know how love stories always start with girl meets boy, girl falls in love with the boy and they live happily ever after."**_ I start with a smile as Opie wraps an arm around my waist.

"Those stories are boring." Leah says with a grin.

_**"Yeah, I never liked those either. This is not one of those….."** _


End file.
